


Misfortune

by WritingCoffeeAddiction



Category: Orange is the New Black
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst and Tragedy, Drug Use, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Relationships, Eventual Romance, Eventual Sex, Eventual Smut, F/F, Falling In Love, Family Loss, Female Friendship, Female-Centric, Fire, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Torture, Love, Memory Loss, Mental Health Issues, Mild Language, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Non-Explicit Sex, Past Drug Addiction, Past Mother Issues, References to Drugs, Strong Bonds, Strong Female Characters, Tragedy, past stalking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-03
Updated: 2017-05-27
Packaged: 2018-09-28 02:33:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 27,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10066577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WritingCoffeeAddiction/pseuds/WritingCoffeeAddiction
Summary: A tragic house fire causes Lorna to lose her family and all of her memories. She doesn't know who she is or what happened to her. Nicky finds her wandering the streets and can't help but worry for her. This leads to both she and Red's taking Lorna in and helping to care for her as she recovers from such a tragic event. Lorna/Nicky





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own the show or characters. All I own is the writing and story.

 

 

 

It was quite a cold, winter day in New York City, and Nicky Nichols reluctantly went to help Red (who's like a mother to her) clean one of her neighbor's house. Her own mother, Marka Nichols, was off on another one of her business trips and forgot to leave her money to pay the bills with or to use for her own health needs. So fortunately, Red offered to have her help with her cleaning service - that way she'll have some extra money in her pockets. Besides, that will give the Russian woman good reason to keep watch over the rambunctious redhead - who she knew had a definite drug problem.

* * *

Nicky grudgingly walked up the front porch, into the house, and was a bit alarmed when she got a whiff of a smoky-fire smell. She rushes to find Red - worried that the house is on fire - but before she can even take another step, she hears a horrendous scream that seems to come from across the street. Not sure what to do or what's going on, Nicky walks into the living room where she finds Red in the midst of dusting off the TV stand. "Did you hear that scream? And it smells like fucking smoke in here! Do you smell it?" She frantically questions.

"Nicky - watch your language," Red warns in her thick Russian accent and shakes her head in response. "I didn't hear any screaming and I definitely don't smell any smoke. What's the matter with you, Nicky? Trying to get out of cleaning?" She lightly joked but grew concerned when a minute later another loud scream can be heard - seeming to come from one of the surrounding houses. The two of them stop what they're doing and start to head outside, in order to see what's going on.

As they step outside, they immediately notice the smoke surrounding the house right across the street. A short, brunette woman is frantically screaming as she stands wide-eyed on the burning house's porch, looking in at the flames that engulf her family's house. Nicky and Red quickly make their way over, noticing - once they're close enough - that this short woman is covered in burns and soot residue from the fire. Red - being the maternal woman that she is - gently approaches her, giving her a look of sympathy. "Are you okay? Did you call 911?" She gently asks, reaching to place a hand onto her shoulder in an effort to comfort the obviously terrified woman. But her hand is frantically shaken away as the brunette backs away, almost back into the burning house.

The brunette looks at them - her brown eyes as wide as ever. She doesn't even know what's happening - all that she can remember is waking up to the smell of smoke and her body being covered in the hot substance. "I-I-I-I," she stutters, not entirely sure of what she was about to say. She has no clue who she even is or who these people standing before her are. She doesn't even know how she ended up waking up in a burning house. "There's-There's a fi-fire..." She says as if believing it for the first time.

Nicky takes out her phone to call 911 - knowing there's something not right with this woman. Once she's off the phone, she looks over at Red, not sure of what they can do for the woman. "Let's get her away from this house - she's already probably breathed in too much of the poison from the fire..." The two try to grab onto the petite brunette, but she only backs further away. Before they can attempt to grab her again, she starts running down the street as fast as she can.

They don't even have a chance to go after her as both the ambulance and fire department show up within minutes of her running off. Red approaches them, her features hard with worry and concern for the young woman they just witnessed run away - who was most certainly disoriented and confused as to what was going on. "We have no idea how this fire happened - my daughter and I were across the street cleaning when we heard loud screams coming from over here. There was a young woman just standing here on the porch, screaming her lungs out and looking very disoriented. She also had some really bad burns on her arms and legs but she ran away before we could do anything to help her!"

* * *

Brown eyes peep out of their eyelids while also examining their surroundings. A beeping sound can be heard - seeming to come from the machine that's on the right of her bed. A machine near her bed? That must mean she's in the hospital...but she can't remember coming there. Did she pass out and was brought here by a stranger? Many questions run through the disoriented woman's mind as she stare up at, presumably, the doctor. "Well it's nice to see that you're awake. I'm Doctor Washington," the doctor says kindly, giving her a sympathetic smile, "Whoever brought you here said that you were just lying on the sidewalk...didn't know if you were dead or alive. Can you tell me what happened?"

The brunette woman shrugs her shoulders, looking at her with confusion. She can't remember what happened to her or how she ended up lying on a sidewalk. All she knows is that she woke up in a house, where her body was engulfed in a swarm of fire. "I-I-I don't - I don't know. I saw a fire...really bad fire. I don't know how or why it happened or who's house I was even in...I just - I woke up and was surrounded by smoke." That's all she knows and remembers. She has no idea who she is or what is going on with her.

"So you were in a fire? You don't know who's house it was? Are you sure it wasn't the house you live in? Or is there something else that happened? Were you kidnapped and brought to a strange house?" The doctor questioned thoroughly - needing as much information as she can get, not only so that she could use that in helping to find out what damage has been done to her patient but also in case she needs to make a report with the police.

Shaking her head, the brunette begins to feel frustrated. "I don't know! There was no one in the house with me so I doubt I was kidnapped...I don't know what happened - I don't even know who the hell I am! I just need - can you let me leave already?" She looks angrily at the doctor - her eyes wide and terrified.

Doctor Washington gives a worried look - she knows that that's not a good sign for her patient to be having memory problems after waking up in a fire. That must mean something in the house was poisonous and had to have been purposefully caused. "I'm afraid you can't leave just yet - I'll need you to have an MRI done of your brain, we need to see what's causing this memory loss of yours. You don't know your name or anything about where your family is?" The other shakes her head in response and she sighs sadly. She decides to take a quick step outside of the room to make a call to the police station - hoping that maybe they can figure out a way to find out who this woman is and how they can get in contact with her family.

Before she can even do that, the police show up and are heading her way. She walks over to them, wondering if they already know about this mysterious woman - she hopes that they do. "That patient of yours - we found out who she is, her name is Lorna Morello. The only thing that wasn't completely destroyed by that fire was her ID card," One of the female police officer's - with wavy brown hair and ocean blue eyes - speaks as she hands the ID over to Doctor Washington. "Her family - none of them made it; we found four bodies in there. All of them completely unrecognizable. That was one of the worst fires we've seen in a while - it's surprising to me that she was able to make it out of there alive."

"Well she certainly didn't make it out of there without any long-lasting effects - she has no idea who she is or that the house was even hers. She has no clue who her family is or anything for that matter. Whatever caused the fire - it must have been some kind of poison because it's caused Lorna's memory to be lost. Are you guys investigating the cause of it?" The doctor asks, even though they probably already started an investigation. Which only gets confirmed when they nod in response to her question. She sighs - this poor young woman is not only left without a family but also of her memories. She won't even be able to remember them - how horrible would that be?

* * *

It's a few days later when Nicky notices the woman - from the fire - walking down the street, obviously still quite disoriented and looking to be in a considerable amount of pain. She goes over to Red, who's just finished dusting off the homeowner's china cabinet, giving her a worried glance. "Ma, we gotta do something to help that woman. She's still just wandering around out there - and she looks like she's in pain." The redhead states while looking out the living room window. All that's left of the house is piles of debris and a battered woman who has no idea who she is.

The Russian woman turns to face her - giving her a knowing glance. She's always known Nicky to want help people, even though she tries her hardest not to show it. "Fine. You stay here though and let me try to talk to her. We shouldn't overwhelm her, not when she's already so terrified," she firmly speaks as she slowly makes her way out the door. The brunette woman, she sees, is just standing on the property that was burned to the core only a few days before. Slowly and very carefully, Red starts to walk over towards her - trying not to get too close and scare her off again.

Lorna stares at her intently but says nothing. Did she know this woman? Is that why she keeps trying to talk to her? She doesn't know who she knew and didn't know - even her family, who apparently were in that burning house with her and are no longer alive, she couldn't remember them either. Shaking her head sadly, she looks down at the ground. She has no family, and no where to live - What is she going to do? She can't remember anything about herself - only her name, since the doctor told her it.

"Was this your house?" Red starts off the conversation - even though she already knows the answer to question. She just doesn't know how exactly to go about asking this woman if she needs any help. Especially after the last time, when she ran away so fast. Seeing the other shrug her shoulders to her question, though, brings a bout of concern to her face. "Do you not know if you lived here? Do you know who you are? Where's your family?" She knows she shouldn't ask so many questions at once, but she can't help herself - they just come rushing out of her.

Being bombarded with that many questions at once makes Lorna's head spin. She has to shut her eyes for a few seconds in order to be able to refocus them. "Uh, I-I-I - the doctor told me that my name's Lorna...and my family was burned to death in the fire, I was told. But I don't - I don't remember them or myself or-or anything! I just, I woke up and flames were engulfing my body, that's all I know and remember. Who - who are you? Am I supposed to know you or something?" Her brown eyes timidly stare up at the older woman - who's features are hard and unreadable to her.

Hearing that this woman not only lost her memory but her family as well breaks Red's heart tremendously. She wouldn't know what to do with herself if something like that happened to her own family. Her family was everything to her; to lose them would be like losing part of her heart. "Oh dear - I'm so sorry to hear that!" She gently says, taking a few careful steps closer to the petite brunette. "No, we don't know each other. My daughter, Nicky - she heard your screaming the other day and so we came to see what the problem was. And she saw you again today, just aimlessly wandering around out here. Why don't you come home with us? You shouldn't be outside in this nasty winter weather, sweetheart. You could get deathly ill and I'm sure you don't want that - not on top of what you've already got to deal with."

* * *

Standing in the entrance-way of Red's house, Lorna can't bring herself to move any further. She doesn't even know why she agreed to come with them - she hardly knows the two women. Besides - they weren't even people she knew before her memory was completely erased, and her real family was gone. What the hell was she going to do? She had nowhere to go - nowhere to live, no family, no significant other - she was truly and utterly alone in the world. Were these random people about to allow some strange woman off the street live with them?

"Come on, kid," this time it's Nicky who's speaking to her as she stares worriedly into her eyes, "Get in here before you catch a damn cold!" When she sees that Lorna still hasn't moved, she goes over to her and pulls her into the house. She closes the door and then leads the smaller woman into the living room, helping her to sit down on the couch. "Lie down - you need to sleep; you look like you haven't slept at all since the last time we saw you." Nicky is firm with her words, but keeps her voice soft as to not upset the other. She gently grabs the blanket that hangs over one of the recliners and brings it over to wrap around Lorna.

* * *

While Lorna rests, Nicky and Red sit in the kitchen with a pot of tea as they silently keep watch over her. "What can we do for her, ma? She's got no family, and her home is a fucking pile of ashes and dust. We can't just let her live on the damn streets!" The fiery redhead shouts, earning her a stern glare from Red. She sighs, reaching for her cup of tea – she knows she shouldn't be swearing in front of her, but it's a force of a habit that she can't seem to break.

Shaking her head, Red sips on her own tea. She peaks in on the woman who's sleeping on her living room couch and lets out a quiet sigh. It tore at her heart to know what's happened to her – it makes her reflect on her own life, her own family. If she couldn't remember her family – it would not only hurt them but also herself. And that brings her to the decision of having this young woman stay with her permanently – maybe by her staying with Red and her family, it might help in recovering memories of her own life. "How many times do you need to be reminded to watch your language? You can talk like that with your friends and anyone else you want, but not with me," she sternly starts off, "I know she can't be living on the streets, Nicky. You think I'm an idiot or something? Why do you think I told her to come home with us? She will stay here for as long as she needs; I could use the company, anyway. With my boys being grown and you're staying at your house while Marka's away, I could definitely use her company and try to help her in some way. And maybe you could try being friends with her – help her out, look after her so that she doesn't try to run off to the streets – where God only knows what kind of people she'd run into. She's probably your age, maybe a little younger. I think you two could be good friends, just don't try to force her into talking about what happened. I know you – Nicky – you're always getting into people's business, but don't do that with her. She hardly knows us or herself for that matter; the last thing we should do is force her to remember information that she may never remember."


	2. Chapter 2

Lorna wakes up, the next morning, feeling a sharp pain tear through her head. She has to squeeze her eyes shut for several seconds in order to get it to stop and then sits up, looking around the room in confusion. Where is she? She wonders as she looks around where she is sitting - she could tell it was someone's house and that she must have fallen asleep on the owner's couch...but she had no idea who's house it belonged to. Or how she even ended up there. The last thing she remembers is waking up to the feeling of her body being engulfed in scorching flames.

Slowly getting off the couch, Lorna cautiously wanders into the kitchen - hoping someone's in there and can explain how she ended up sleeping in such a strange environment. She feels a bit relieved when she sees an older woman - probably in her early fifties - sitting at the table as she looks over a newspaper. Taking a step closer, she timidly opens her mouth to speak. "Uh - excuse me? Could-could you tell me where-where I am at, exactly? And uh who you are... or who I am for that matter?" Her eyes cast down to the wood-tiled floor - she's not sure if she should know this woman or not.

Surprised to see the young woman, Red sets the newspaper aside while taking off her reading glasses and then focuses her attention up at Lorna. She gives her a friendly smile as she takes a sip of her coffee, "My name's Red. Nicky, my daughter, and I found you wandering around your house yesterday, which had been burned to smithereens, so we brought you back to my house. Your name is Lorna - that's what you said the doctor told you." Worry rushes through her, wondering why the brunette couldn't remember the events from yesterday. Had the memory loss been worse than they thought?

"Doctor...what doctor? I never saw a doctor and I don't remember seeing you or this Nicky person yesterday. I know I was in a fire - I woke up to my body being engulfed in smoke," she says, her eyebrows arched in confusion. What on earth could this woman be talking about? She would have remembered if she'd seen a doctor - wouldn't she?

The Russian woman motions for her to sit down at the table before she walks over to the kitchen counter to get her a cup of coffee. After she's fixed the coffee, she carefully brings it over to Lorna - who seemed just as disoriented as she did yesterday, sitting at the table. She sat back down in her own chair and gave a sympathetic smile. "You probably lost your memory, that would explain why you're not able to remember much. We should make you an appointment with a Neurologist of some kind." She suggests as she has a sip of her bold coffee. And that's exactly what she plans to do.

* * *

"You are, indeed, suffering with a case of Amnesia," Doctor Pepesino - the leading Neurologist in all of New York - states after having a very thorough look at Lorna's MRI scans. "In fact you have one of the rarest forms that I've ever seen! You have Anterograde Amnesia, which means you aren't able to remember new things. That might explain why you can't remember anything that happened yesterday - aside from waking up in the house fire. But on top of that, you're also suffering from Retrograde Amnesia and that explains why you can't remember your family or who you are."

Hearing all that overwhelms the small brunette - she doesn't know what to think. She won't be able to remember her life before this or anything that she tries to do in her future. "Will I ever remember anything? You can't tell me that I have to live like this for the rest of my life...What's the point of living and then forgetting everything the very next morning?!" She frantically questions as she hopes this isn't going to be permanent. How can one live if they never remember anything?

The doctor gives a shrug of his shoulders - each patient that he's dealt with, who've suffered with some sort of memory loss, had several different outcomes. "You might gain some of your old memories but there's no guarantee about making new ones. I know that sounds ridiculous to have to live without any memory...but there are ways to work with it. Many of my patients find that writing daily reminders or journal about the day's events seem to help. Even taking pictures of people you see every day might help you to remember their names. Why don't you give those things a try and we'll see if any improvements are made next month?" He writes down a date for her next appointment and hands it to her. Hopefully these tips will help her gain at least some of her memory back - otherwise he'd have to move on to plan B...and that might not be in her best interest.

* * *

As the day wears on, Lorna decides to take her doctor's advice and starts writing down some things to help her remember where she's at and who she is. With a notebook at hand, she sits at the kitchen table and jots a few things down. She pencils in her name, who's house she's in, and the Russian woman's daughter - she looks up and notices that very person sitting right across from her. "Your name's Nicky - right?" Receiving a nod as answer to her question, Lorna writes it down in the notebook that the doctor gave to her before they left.

When the brunette finishes writing, she closes the notebook and stares over at Nicky. "You don't look like your mom that much - aside from the red hair," she blurts out, in reference to Red. She just can't see the resemblance but who is she to judge? She doesn't even know her own mother - so she may not even look like hers either.

"That might be because Red's not my real mom," Nicky smirks, her brown eyes casually scoping over the younger woman's body. "She's just a mother figure in my life - and so much better than my actual mother. I met Red when the two of us were in prison - which was about three years ago now - and she treated me as if I were her daughter. So I pretty much just call her my mom now and usually live here with her...but since my mother's gone on some business trip I decided to stay at her house until she returns." She's not one to be this open with others, but she knows Lorna will forget all of this information by tomorrow morning, so she's not too worried.

Lorna slowly nods her head, a bit shocked to hear that these two women who took her in happened to be past criminals. She couldn't even begin to imagine what they might have done - they didn't even come across as criminals to her. "Prison? How-how did you two end up there?" She can't help but ask - she's intrigued to know who these two women are, especially if they're going to allow her to stay with them.

With a smirk, the redhead decides to enlighten her - especially since the information will soon be washed away from her memory. "I'm a heroin addict and ma's a fake-boob popper," Nicky chuckles, looking at the younger woman to see her reaction. She notices how wide and confused the other's eyes are, which only makes her laugh more. "Ma had some 'friends' who she used to go walking with and they weren't very fond of her - tried to exclude her from their activities. So, one day she ran into them and accidentally squeezed one of the women's boobs...so hard that it popped!"

Hearing how the Russian woman ended up in prison brought a bout of laughter to Lorna. She couldn't believe that someone could be thrown in jail over something so minuscule. "Really? She went to prison over something that dumb?" The brunette couldn't help but ask - it didn't make sense to her. There's no way anyone could go to prison just for popping a women's fake breast, she thinks.

"Well – apparently, those fake boobs that lady had were worth $60,000 each and Red didn't have the money to pay her. Obviously, they refused to let her get away with ruining her _precious little_ fake boob – which is how Red ended up in prison. Pretty fucked up, I know!" Nicky informs the other woman, though leaving out a few details – details that she feels would probably frighten her. The two share a laugh over their amusing conversation. But suddenly Nicky looks across at her with a more serious expression. "So you don't remember anything about yourself? Not even how old you are?"

Sighing sadly, Lorna shakes her head in response. She wishes she could remember something - anything about her life. But no matter how hard she pushes herself, she always draws a blank. "Not a clue," her voice deadpanned as she looks down at the pattern of the kitchen table. "All I can really remember is waking up in the fire, and everything before that is blank." Her eyes become dark and pained; it really shatters her inside to realize that she may never be able to remember her past or even her present.

* * *

Christopher is waiting in line to purchase a coffee, at a popular coffee shop, when his eyes fall on a familiar figure - Lorna, the very woman who spent the past three years stalking him and the woman who's house he set on fire just a few days prior, sitting at one of the tables with two others. He's in a state of shock to see that she was barely touched by the fire - that she is able to go out for a coffee only days after such a horrific ordeal. His blood starts to boil as he takes his freshly made latte and walks - rather stomps - over to her table.

Once he approaches her, he realizes that if he lets his words slip out about causing the fire that that will surely land him in prison - for probably the rest of his life - so he decides against his initial reaction, and instead decides to play it cool. Kill her with kindness, he thinks. Mustering up a fake sympathetic expression, Christopher slowly turns so that his face is directly in the brunette's view. "I heard about the house fire you and your family encountered the other day, Lorna - just thought I'd give you my condolences. You look like you've been spared quite miraculously from it - everyone is really surprised, police and firefighters said that was one of the worst fires they've ever seen. You're really lucky you survived, aren't you?" He has to bite his tongue to stop the anger from coming through.

At hearing her name, and seeing the unfamiliar man staring at her, Lorna can only shrug and give him a confused glance. "Do I - do I know you? How do you know about the fire?" She takes a hard look at him - trying to remember if there was anything familiar about him but, as usual, her mind only draws another blank. An uneasiness washes over her and she can't look at him any longer without feeling the need to run to the bathroom.

Holding in his anger is seeming to get harder after hearing her response. How can she pretend to not know him? After the hell she's put him through - his family, his wife - and now she wants to pretend that none of it happened. No way is Christopher going to let that to slide. "Don't play dumb with me, Lorna! I'm trying really hard to be nice to you right now - but you're pretending to not know who I am is really pissing me off." His face slightly gets redder with each word that comes out of his mouth.

"She's not playing dumb or pretending any of this," Red's Russian accent thickened as the anger in her voice becomes more prominent, "She has no memory - she doesn't remember you, her own family, or even herself. So you ought to knock off this anger of yours; it's not Lorna's fault she can't remember you. How do you know her anyway? Are you a friend of hers or something?" She gives him a hard stare - not too sure if he can be trusted.

Gritting his teeth, the light brunette man lets out a deep sigh. He resents that he has to apologize for his behavior, but he doesn't want to get on the older woman's bad side - not when he has a plan that will definitely teach Lorna a lesson that she will never forget. "My bad," he quietly apologizes, trying to sound as sympathetic as he can. Then he inwardly laughs - now is the perfect chance he has to take Lorna and bring her to his place - make her life hell for three years of her life, the same she did to him. "Oh, yes; she's my cousin - our moms were sisters. I didn't mean to sound so harsh and accuse her of anything... it's just she's always made things up as a child that it's really hard to believe what she says. My bad though, I should have known she was being serious - she was in a horrific fire, after all." He's surprised at himself for creating such an elaborate story and even more surprised that the three women seem to actually believe him. "She can come back home with me - my parents were so worried about her, we've been looking for her ever since we heard of the fire!"

Nicky's shaking her head - not at all buying what this Christopher guy is telling them. And she's even more against such predicament when she notices the slight amount of fear in Lorna's eyes as she hears his suggestion of the two of them leaving together. "The two of you are cousins, huh? What were your aunt's and uncle's names then? And her siblings? How old is Lorna?" She bombards him with questions - hoping to catch him in a lie. Because there's absolutely no way she trusts what he's saying to be true, not after the way he spoke to the petite brunette when she told him she didn't know him. There is definitely something fishy going on here and Nicky will surely get to the bottom of it.

"We're cousins, yes," Christopher replies, an irritancy starting to form as the redhead tries to figure out his lie. Unfortunately he knows all about Lorna and her family - since all she's done for the last three years is stalk him - which makes answering her heated questions quite easy. "Joe and Stansie Morello were their names - and her two older siblings, Mikey, her brother, and Franny, her sister. Her brother and sister were five and six years older than her, which makes her twenty-five years old. They were quite the family, I'd say. It's really sad that the rest of them weren't as lucky as Lorna was, but my parents, brother, and I are all so thankful she's alive."

Hearing all that information brings a pain to Lorna's head as she stares up at the man - unsure what to think. Is he really telling the truth, or is this all made up? She wishes she could remember the people in her family, so that she could know for sure if this Christopher was being honest with her. But why would anyone come up to a random person with memory loss and just make up some crazy story? That question makes her realize that there's no way he's lying, it has to be true - the information is very thorough and rational that it's hard for her to not believe it. "Wow - I don't, I don't know what to say...Maybe staying with you and your parents might help me regain some memories? You probably know a lot about what my family was like." She hopes that she's right to believe his words - that she's not putting herself in danger by leaving with him.

Shaking her head even more, Nicky gives him a death stare but then turns to face Lorna - her expression immediately softening. "You sure you wanna go with him, kid? Just cause' he's your 'cousin' doesn't mean you automatically have to go live with him and his family. You're an adult, you can make up your own mind. Don't let him pressure you into something you're not comfortable with, okay?" She firmly speaks to her, placing a comforting hand onto her shoulder. When she receives a nod in answer to her question, her heart sinks and an internal alarm system goes off inside of her. Something is really not right with what's going on, she can feel it in her gut and she can imagine Red is feeling the same way as she is. But if Lorna is willing to go home with this man - who claims to be her cousin - there's really not much the two women can do. So Nicky reaches into her pocket for a piece of paper and a pen, she writes down both hers and Red's phone numbers, then gives it to the brunette. "If you need anything, you give ma and I a call - understood? And if you change your mind about this, you're always welcome to come back to Red's house."

* * *

It's only been one day since Lorna left to go live with her un-proclaimed cousin, Christopher, and all Nicky can do is worry for her. She has a feeling that something is very wrong with the whole situation, but the only thing she can do is hope for the best - hope that for Lorna's sake, the two of them really are cousins. Because if her instinct happened to be correct, poor little Lorna would be in a lot of danger. And that's not something the redhead could stomach - the thought of a sweet, defenseless human being, such as that petite brunette, getting harmed at the hands of a cold, sadistic man made her absolutely sick.

* * *

Lorna lays timidly on the concrete floor of Christopher's basement cellar. She should have listened to Nicky and not gone home with him - or listen to her own voice and not believe what stories he told her. Because that's all they were - stories and nothing more. She and Christopher were not cousins - his entire family, including himself, completely despised her. And she had not the first clue as to why that was. They would only taunt her and call her crazy or psycho - saying that she should be rotting away in prison. But since the state refused to do anything about it, they took it into their own hands and locked her up in Christopher's cold cellar - deep down in the basement, an 8x8 room surrounded by concrete.

It's dark and cold, and Lorna's not even sure how long she's been stuck down there. A day? An hour? She can't even think - everything in her aches, her head, her arms, her legs. When Christopher first brought her to his place, he blindfolded her and gagged her when she started to scream. When she tried to kick or punch him, her arms and legs were tied. As soon as he threw into this room - if it could even be considered a room with how small and confined that it was - he removed all of her restraints and then left. She hasn't seen him since. Tears pour out of her eyes like a waterfall as she rocks back and forth, holding onto her knees. She has no clue what will come of her - is he going to murder her? Is - would he rape her? Just the possibilities of what could happen to her causes her even more distress. How could one harmless decision cause so much destruction?


	3. Chapter 3

Days slowly pass by as Lorna sits alone in Christopher's cold cellar. She hasn't seen him since he brought her there and can't even remember where she's at. Her memory is not any clearer – she sometimes forgets who she is, especially as she doesn't have her notebook anymore. Every day, though, she looks at the piece of paper in her pocket and tries to figure out who gave it to her. There's a ten-digit phone number scribbled in the middle of it along with the name Nicky written right above that. But she doesn't know a Nicky, does she?

The last few days have been nothing but an absolute blur to her – she has done nothing except sit in this tiny room and hope that someone - _anyone_ \- will let her out soon. Her body is weak and fatigued; she's dehydrated and starving, she hasn't eaten anything since before she was left down in this box of a room. She feels trapped in here and has tried to open the door to get out, but it's always locked. The thought of breaking the door down ran through her mind many times, but she feared that if she succeeded in doing so that whoever brought her here would kill her. So, instead, she sits in the corner of the room – huddled up as she rhythmically rocks back and forth, her effort to keep warm and to calm herself.

* * *

Nicky worries every day for the young woman that she and Red allowed to go home with Christopher – a man claiming to be her cousin. She hasn't heard from her at all, figuring she's probably already forgotten who the two of them were, and the feeling in her gut only gets stronger that something is wrong. There's no way this Christopher was a relative of Lorna's – not after he harshly spoke to her, and yelled at her for not remembering who he was. Something seemed very off with him; there had to be a reason for this, and the fiery redhead vowed to figure out what exactly that was.

* * *

Two weeks, Nicky thinks to herself, two weeks and she has still yet to see or hear from Lorna. At this point she knows that something awful is going on and refuses to sit back to let it happen. Yet she has no idea what she can do to find where Lorna's at; she doesn't know Christopher's address nor does she have a phone number to reach the young woman by. She did write down her own number for the other, but she hasn't received any phone calls and realizes that that must be because Lorna doesn't have a phone.

Frustrated, the redhead decides to head over to Red's house to see what she thinks of the situation. She thinks that if the two of them work together, they will be able to figure out where Lorna is and go there to get her help. As she approaches the front door of the house – a house she's spent most of her time these past few years – she notices one of Red's sons limping around on the porch as he peaks in the windows. "What happened to you?" She asks, making her way up the stairs and about to let herself in the door.

Red's oldest son, Vasily, turns to look at the redhead – the young woman who's become like a daughter to his mother and a little bit like a sister to him. "Oh, you know just Lida's giving me a hard time. She and I got in a fight, and she made me fall and sprain my ankle. Mom's not going to be happy, so I'm trying to prolong facing her for as long as I can. Which I assume that ends now because you're here. Hope you're prepared to hear our screaming match," he laughs, but knows it's true. His mother always blamed him for his wife's abuse – accusing him of going out and getting drunk all the time. That simply wasn't true, he thinks, she just can't imagine her son actually being abused for no reason.

When Red hears the door open, she immediately gets up and hurries into the living room. Seeing her son limping and battered, she sighs and places her hands on her hips. She's seen this way too many times over the past years that he's been married to Lida, and just wishes he would grow up and take care of his family the way that he should. "How long is it going to take you to learn that spending your nights at the pubs getting drunk isn't going to help your marriage? You're doing this to yourself, Vasily! You have a wife and kids now, you need to grow the hell up and be a man!" Her Russian accent deepening as is her anger.

"Stop it mom! You don't know what's going on between Lida and I – you don't know that _I'm_ the one at home taking care of the kids while she's out with her little group of whore friends getting drunk until two am! And when I even mention it to her, she gets furious and attacks _me._ I never do a thing to her, I just want her to be a mother to our kids and a wife to me. But all she cares about is 'getting drunk with the girls'. And I'm sick of it – absolutely fucking sick of it, the abuse, the yelling, the marriage. I'm filing for a divorce; I can't do this anymore, ma," his voice shaky with nerves as he says all of this to his mother. He can barely look at her, knowing how angry she'll be to hear that he may just be a divorced man in a short while.

Rubbing her temples in frustration, Red sucks in a deep breath and looks at her son. She takes in the expression on his face, realizing that he's truly hurt by what's going on in his life. There's a sadness in his eyes and that brings a pang of guilt to the Russian woman's heart – her own son has been getting abused all these years, and all she did was blame it on him. "You're being truthful about this?" Receiving a nod along with a single tear running down his cheek, Red doesn't stop herself from going over to him and wrapping him in a comforting hug. "I'm sorry – so sorry for not listening to you. You've been suffering all this time and here I am blaming you for it. You are a wonderful son, an amazing father, and a way too kind husband! Oh, I swear when I see Lida, I'm going to kill her! Kak ona posmela obidet' moyego malen'kogo mal'chika! (How dare she hurt my little boy)" She yells, speaking in Russian without even realizing it. She hates that her son spent so many years getting hurt – at the hands of his wife – but she was pleased to hear that he finally made the decision to get out of such a nasty relationship.

* * *

A bit later, after things have settled down between the mother and son, Nicky decides to go to Red and figure out what they can do about Lorna. "Ma? You hear from Lorna or anything? It's been two weeks since she went to live with that 'cousin' of hers and I've got a sick feeling in my stomach about this. You would think that we'd see her around town, ya know? The town isn't all that big after all." She looks at the older woman, who's busy chopping up vegetables in the kitchen, a worried expression on her face. She just can't shake the feeling off of her.

Red stares up from the vegetables right into Nicky's eyes. She can see through her brown eyes that something is troubling her 'daughter' which causes herself to start to worry. "No, I have not. She probably can't remember us, Nicky; her memories aren't very good. Do you not believe that Christopher is her cousin? He seems to have no reason to lie about it. You just see things you wanna see sometimes," she goes back to chopping but has her own suspicions now that she really thinks about it. Maybe he was lying about that…but what reason would he have to lie over such a thing?

Sighing, Nicky walks closer to the older woman. Watching her as she chops up some carrots. "I really don't think he is. He got so angry when she said she couldn't remember him. And he just doesn't sound sincere – I don't like him nor do I trust him. And if he's not her real cousin…what the hell could he be doing with her right now? What if he's a fucking murderer or a rapist - and we just let him abduct Lorna?! She could be dead for all we know, ma! We need to find out his address and make sure she's okay."

* * *

Days? Weeks? Months? Years? Lorna can't even imagine how long it's been that she's locked in this tiny box of a room. She barely has the energy to sit up – her legs are weak and bony as are her arms. Her throat is dry and scratchy; she hasn't had anything to drink in god-knows-how-long. She's starting to feel very isolated and alone, she hasn't had contact with another human being since she was first thrown in here. It frightens her to still be here and she wonders if she'll ever be let out. The room is pitch black – there are no windows to give off any natural light – the door is locked shut, she has no phone to call anyone, and she has no way of getting anyone to call her. Not as if she has anyone she could call anyway, she doesn't know a soul. She hardly even knows herself.

Silence is all she's heard for days or weeks or however long she's been locked up. That's why, when she hears footsteps coming down what sounds like a set of stairs, a wave of relief washes over her. Is someone coming to get her out? Or is this person coming to end her? Relief turns in to fear as she hears the footsteps come closer and closer to the room. She covers her eyes with her hands, rocking back and forth as she hears the person unlock the door and twist the knob to open it.

"What the hell? Who the hell is in here?" A female voice, Lorna notices but it doesn't frighten her any less. She backs farther and farther away, into a ball near the deepest corner of the cellar. The mysterious woman comes closer to her, hovering over her petite body as she tries to figure out who this is. "How did you get in here? Come out here so I can have a better look at you," her voice is persistent as she grabs the petite brunette and brings here out where the light is. Her eyes grow wide when she finally recognizes who this woman is, and the rage that she usually feels when she sees Lorna is nowhere in sight. "Lorna?! What – how did you get down here? How long have you been in there?"

The taller woman, Angela – Christopher's wife – brings Lorna up the stairs and sits her in a chair at their elegant kitchen table. She looks her over and is completely concerned when she sees the horrific state this young woman is in. Confusion washes over her, she can't understand what's happened to her or how she ended up in their basement…unless Christopher did this. Would he really stoop so low as to seek revenge by throwing her in a cold cellar and leaving her there? Angela understood her husband's anger and outrage towards Lorna – she, herself, was not very fond of the woman – but the thought of his torturing her brought a sick feeling to her stomach. "You look horrible, Lorna; Let me get you some water, you probably haven't drunken anything in days!" She quickly goes over to retrieve a glass from the cabinet and fills it with filtered water, bringing it over to place in front of the disoriented brunette.

Instinctively, Lorna picks up the glass and chugs down the water. She looks over at Angela as if silently begging her for more. The feeling of water running down her throat was the most heavenly thing to her; the dryness finally seeming to ease up. "Th-thank you…Who-who are you?" Her eyes searching the taller woman, trying to figure out if she knows her or not but her mind only draws a blank.

Angela quickly refills the glass, and an even more worried expression covers her face. What on earth happened to this woman? How could Lorna not remember her? She spent years and years stalking both she and Christopher. "I'm Angela," she says, looking at her uneasily, "Do you know who you are? Or where you're at?" Her voice is unusually gentle as she asks the smaller woman these questions. She watches as Lorna gulps down the second glass – surprised at how thirsty she is – and goes to refill it a third time. Just then the kitchen door opens and in comes Christopher. She gives him a long, hard stare, then tilts her head over at Lorna – trying to get an explanation from him. She sees how red his face gets when he stares at Lorna and she becomes concerned when he goes charging towards her.

To see that Lorna has been let out of her own personal prison causes a lot of rage to build within Christopher. He runs over to her chair and starts yanking her harshly out of it – ready to throw her back in the cellar. Angry at his actions, though, Angela runs in front of him and harshly pulls Lorna out of his arms. "What the fuck are you doing, Christopher? Why are you doing this to her? I know you hate her for stalking you and us – I'm not happy that she did that either – but for God's sake _would you look at her_? Do you see how fucking terrified and ill she is? What is torturing her going to do, Christopher? Nothing; it's not going to do a thing but ruin her for the rest of her life." She stands in front of the disoriented and frightened brunette, making sure that he can't do anything. Turning to face Lorna, she holds her by the shoulders and says quietly, "Run out the door and go get yourself help, okay? I'll make sure Christopher doesn't touch you again. But you gotta go to a hospital or something, you look really weak!"

* * *

Lorna does exactly what she was told – she runs and runs and runs until she just can't anymore. Her legs are so weak, so fatigued, that they give out on her and she ends up falling to the ground. She has no idea where she ran to, how far away she got from that house; all she can think about is how much her entire body aches and how much she longs to go home – wherever that may be. Fatigue floods her, her eyes are nearly shut when she feels someone kneeling over her; their breath on her face. Slowly, she opens her eyes and looks in to the brown eyes of an older – probably mid-fifties or so – Spanish woman.

The Spanish woman, with short brown hair shaped neatly around her face, is very concerned when she sees this young girl lying on the sidewalk across from her family-run diner. She was busy taking out the trash when she noticed her and came running over – she's never seen a sight quite like this, even for New York. "Are you okay? What happened?" There's a very light, not-quite-noticeable, accent to her voice as she questions her.

Squinting at the brightness of the sun, Lorna tries to sit up but everything in her feels numb. "Angela told me to run and get help. But my legs – they're so weak and they ache…My whole-body aches," she mumbles, looking down at the cement sidewalk. She can't seem to figure out what's causing this achiness she feels or what's really happened to her.

Watching her struggle to move, the older woman feels her maternal instincts kick in as she scoops her into her arms and starts carrying her back to the diner. "You look like you haven't eaten or drunken in weeks," she mutters, approaching the entrance to where she works. She brings Lorna to an empty table and carefully sits her down. Looking her over, she can't help but feel sorry for her. "How about I get you a glass of water and something to eat?" She asks, but really didn't mean that there were any other options. She knew this woman needed food and hydration as quickly as possible, so she hurriedly ran to the back to get her something.

The brunette just sat there, looking nervously around the diner – terrified that Christopher man would come back to get her. Her hands shake against the top of the table. She's not sure what she'll do after this; she doesn't know anyone or herself. All she knows is that she has nowhere to go, no one to go home to – she doesn't even have a home, for that matter.

"Hey, _hey_ ," a soft voice calls out, "Are you okay?" Lorna looks up to see who's addressing her – a young woman, with light brown (almost a caramel color) wavy hair and brown eyes, stares at her in deep concern. The concerned woman cautiously takes a seat across from Lorna, her eyes never looking away, "What's your name? I'm Daya."

Looking across at the other woman, Lorna slightly shrugs her shoulders. She's not entirely sure she remembers her name – she knows she kept hearing the woman back at that house, she was stuck in, refer to her as Lorna a few times. "I think it's Lorna – that's what Angela kept calling me," she quietly replies, casting her eyes downward. A few seconds later, the older Spanish woman comes back with a large glass of ice-water and a plate of food all of which she places in front of the petite brunette. "Uh, I don't – I don't have any money to give you. I can't accept this." She says, even though she longs to have it. But she wouldn't feel right mooching off them, so she does her best to refrain herself.

Shaking her head in disbelief, the older woman nudges the plate and glass closer to Lorna. There's no way she will allow her to skip out on a meal – not when she looks like she hasn't been fed in weeks, maybe even months. "Money isn't important right now. You eat that entire plate and drink the water; you look very hungry, child. And I refuse to watch you starve any longer! If you're still hungry after that plate, I will get you more. Don't you worry about paying for this, it's not important. What's important is taking care of yourself." Her voice is firm as is her face while she stands there, not leaving until she sees that the young girl takes a bite of her food.

Sitting in the seat opposite Lorna's, Daya gives her a concerned glance. She can't help but wonder where this woman's family is or how she got herself into such a state as this. "Do you have a family or anyone that we can call for you?" She worriedly asks, but isn't too sure there will be anyone as the other could barely remember even her own name.

Gulping down the entire glass of water in just under a minute, Lorna shakes her head. But then remembers the piece of paper she has in her jean pocket and quickly gets it out. She looks at it, briefly, the number is still there as is Nicky's name. It's not like she knows, or remembers, the person, but it's worth a shot for the number to be called – maybe that is her family and she just has no recollection of them. Handing it over to the other woman, she says, "I've had this in my pocket for – I really don't know how long. It has a number and name written on it but I can't remember who gave it to me or who this Nicky is. If-if you could maybe call it?"

"Of course, we'll give the number a call," she hands the paper to the older woman – her aunt and the owner of this diner – and the two of them make their way towards the back. She grabs the phone from the wall, giving it to the other to dial the number.

Waiting through the rings, the short-haired woman peaks out over at Lorna. It brings pain to heart to see anyone suffer, even more so when it's someone as young and small as that woman sitting in her restaurant. Finally, when she hears a voice on the other end, she lets out a quiet sigh of relief. Maybe this girl does have a family, after all. "Hello? Is this Nicky? My name's Gloria, I work at a local diner, and I found a young woman out on the sidewalk. Her name is Lorna and she had a piece of paper with your number written on it. She's not sure if she knows you or not, but she's been badly injured. Do you remember anyone by the name of Lorna?" She frantically questions, hoping to somehow get all of this figured out.

On the other end of the phone, Nicky feels a huge gush of relief fall over her and a tiny smile spreading across her face. She can't believe that someone has finally found Lorna, and feels so much guilt when she hears that the petite woman has been harmed. "Yes, _yes_ – I know Lorna. She was staying with ma and I just a few weeks ago, until some man claimed to be her cousin and took her away. She has really bad Amnesia; she was in a horrific house-fire when we found her. That's why she probably doesn't know who I am. But I will be down there as soon as I can be! Thank you so much for finding her and giving me a call! You have no clue how worried my mom and I were for her!"


	4. Chapter 4

The minute Nicky hangs up the phone both she and Red are in the car, on their way to the diner. She's relieved to know that Lorna has been found and is being looked after by a kind woman. But, on the other hand, she's guilty that she even let her leave with a strange man in the first place – even if he did claim to be her cousin. She couldn't even begin to imagine what the tiny woman must have been put through, the thought alone brought a cold shiver to her body. Glancing over at Red, who's busy driving, she can't help but feel thankful – she couldn't ask for a better mother figure in her life and knows that the Russian woman will do whatever she can to help Lorna.

"Your intuition turned out to be right, Nicky," Red speaks up, looking over at the younger woman as she stops at the red-light. She nonchalantly shakes her head; her daughter seems to always know when something isn't right, even when no one else sees it. "That poor, poor young woman." Her heart aches for Lorna; the pain and suffering she must be going through, and she doesn't even have her family to help her through it. Why do horrific things happen to good people? Something the Russian mother often questions. Her eyes linger on her daughter, and she feels a small smile spread across her face. "I'm proud of you, Nicky; I mean it. After all the trouble, you've gotten yourself into these last few years, you're turning out to be a good, and compassionate, young woman. Marka oughta be disgusted with herself for giving up on you. She'll never get to see how strong and amazing her beautiful little girl turned out to be. But that's her own fault; she doesn't deserve you anyway."

* * *

When the two finally enter the diner, after only a ten or so minute drive, their eyes quickly wander around the room in search for Lorna's familiar figure. It doesn't take long for them to notice her, and when they do, their hearts shatter at how sickly she looks. Slowly, Nicky and Red walk over to where she's at, watching as she mindlessly sticks forkfuls of food in her mouth while she stares blankly ahead. She barely even turns her attention when the two of them sit across from her, looking at her with the utmost concern.

Gloria, the woman who found Lorna outside her diner, comes over with another glass of water and places it in front of the brunette. She sighs, and then notices the two others sitting across from her. "She's been pretty quiet and reserved since we got off the phone," she states, looking over at Red and Nicky.

Oblivious to what's going on around her, Lorna reaches for the glass in front of her and drinks the entirety of it in less than a minute. After, she goes back to aimlessly putting large forkfuls of pasta into her mouth. Her mind isn't quite there; she realizes she has no one and therefore decides to leave as soon as she finishes her meal. These women who have come to take her home with them – she knows she can't accept their kindness; they barely even know her, they shouldn't be burdened with someone like herself.

Nicky watches her closely, her big brown eyes full of worry and concern. She notices how frail and tiny Lorna's frame has gotten since the last time she's seen her – which was well over a month ago. Thankfully, she realizes there are no bruise marks on her so that must mean she wasn't raped or anything horrific like that. But it still fills her with guilt to know that Lorna's been neglected for so long. "Lorna, do you remember who I am? Or who she is?" She gently asks, pointing in Red's direction.

Coming out of her trance, Lorna lifts her head to stare at who spoke to her. Her eyes search the redhead's body – trying to make some sort of connection, but no matter how hard she tries, she can't remember a thing. She looks to the woman beside her; again, nothing comes to her. "S-sorry," she faintly says, looking down in shame of herself. "I really, I really can't remember who you are – either of you. I'm sorry!" Frustration and tears overtake her as she realizes that no matter how hard she pushes herself, she may never remember anything.

"There's no reason to be sorry about it; you can't help that you've lost your memory," Red gently reaches across the table to place a comforting hand on top of Lorna's. She gives her a sympathetic look; it saddens her to see another suffer so much, especially a young woman such as the one sitting opposite she and her daughter. "Don't worry about it, sweetheart. Nicky and I aren't bothered by that, we're just glad you're okay!" Though, just by a quick look over, Red knows that the petite brunette is not exactly _okay_. Her body is smaller, frailer, and she's much more standoffish than she was after they took her home from the house fire.

Not knowing what else to say, Lorna keeps her eyes on her plate – finally finishing off the last of it. She reaches for the napkin to wipe her face with and then just sits there. She has no clue what to do next; it's not as if she has any place to go, she doesn't have a family, and the house – she supposedly lived in – was burned to the ground. Glancing across the table, she wonders what these two women planned to do with her. They didn't even know her, so why would they want to let her stay with them? What kind of people just allow some stranger to stay in their house?

Attempting to clear the slight tension, Gloria comes over to clear the mess and gives a firm stare towards Lorna. "Are you still hungry? You want me to get you something else?" She asks, knowing that the brunette probably could use another plate of food. Her arms and legs are so thin that an outline of her bones is very noticeable and that makes the older woman physically ill. How could any human being do something so evil and cruel to another?

Shaking her head slowly – even though her body begged for more – Lorna couldn't accept another plate. She couldn't allow them to give her food and not receive payment for it. They were already being kind to her by letting her sit in their diner; she refused to mooch even more out of them. "I'm good, but thank-thank you. I'm sorry I don't have any money to give you… If there's any other way I can pay you back, I'll do it. I feel terrible for not having a way to pay; I can't accept not paying you in some way. What can I do?" She looks up at the diner's owner, her eyes practically begging her for she to tell her what to do.

"You don't need to be worrying about that," Gloria sternly speaks, giving a hard stare in her direction, "What you need to worry about, young one, is yourself. You look terribly ill and weak; you need some meat on your bones." She shakes her head, unable to believe how persistent this woman is on paying for her meal when she can hardly take care of herself. But then she remembers hearing her say something about running from a house – maybe Lorna didn't do this to herself, maybe someone else did this. So, she sighs, and tries not to rush into assuming things.

Nicky slightly nods her head, in agreement with the older woman. It breaks her heart to see how sickly Lorna looks; she looks softly at her, reaching her hand over to gently grab one of hers. "She's right – you shouldn't be worrying about paying for the food. I can take a pretty good guess and say that Christopher hasn't fed you the entire month that you've been stuck there. You _need_ to eat, kid; and the kind people who work here can clearly see that you're starving to death, so they're not gonna fucking worry about how it's paid for!" Anger is rising in her voice – not at Lorna but at Christopher for doing this to her – and she has to take a deep breath to stop herself from yelling. Seeing the fear appear on the brunette's face brings Nicky to her senses, causing her to immediately soften her expression. "I'm sorry, kid; don't be scared! I just can't bear to see you refusing food – that you obviously need – only because you feel bad about not paying. The people who work here don't care that you can't pay them; they just want you to be okay, and if you don't eat you might not be okay." She comfortingly strokes her thumb over the other's knuckles, then turns to stare at the owner, "Please get her another plate of food; she's starving. Ma and I will give you however much it costs, but you gotta get this poor thing some more to eat."

* * *

Once they're back at Red's house, after having to spend a half-hour convincing Lorna that she would not be a burden nor would they do anything to cause her harm, they have her go upstairs to shower – telling her that will help her feel better and even relax her a bit. While she's doing that, Red and Nicky sit in her kitchen sipping on freshly brewed coffee as they look across at each other.

Sighing, Nicky stares down at her coffee. She's never really been one to care for others or what problems they may be facing – until she landed herself in prison for four years. Ever since her time in prison, and especially after meeting and growing very close to Red, Nicky's been a lot more empathetic towards other people's situations, and even more so now with having met Lorna. "How are we gonna help her, ma? She's worse off now than she was when we first found her." She questions, peering over at the Russian – hoping she has some sort of plan.

"We have to be patient and understanding with her, Nicky. She's frail and timid, and still without memory. So, we must make sure she knows she's safe here and not push her into talking about anything that may upset her – that being her memories. Forcing her to try to remember will only hurt her, and I know you, you like to get into everyone's business. You have her notebook she left here, so you can give that to her and we'll have her continue writing important information in there. Maybe one day she will remember her past life, but we cannot force her to. She needs to remember it on her own," Red firmly speaks, bringing her mug of coffee to her lips. She certainly does know her daughter, and that she would push Lorna into remembering things if not reminded not to.

Nicky solemnly nods her head but doesn't say anything. She continues to stare down at her coffee-filled mug, sticking a spoon in it and mixing it around. She's about to take a sip when a loud scream overpowers the entire house. Immediately, both she and Red run up the stairs and into the bathroom. Her eyes fill with worry as she sees Lorna curled into a ball, deep in the corner of the room. "What's the matter, kid?" She softly asks, slowly making her way towards the timid and trembling brunette. She places a gentle hand on her shoulder, deeply concerned for her behavior.

The slight touch causes Lorna to flinch as she buries her head deeper and deeper into her folded arms. She feels as though she's in that tiny room again, suffocating from claustrophobia as she rocks back and forth. "Ple-please don't, don't touch me. I don't know you… I don't know anyone, or even myself… Why-why can't I? Where's my, my family?" Her voice shakes, tears streak down her cheeks.

Hearing how terrified and pained she is, Nicky gently takes her hand away but kneels beside her. "Shh; I'm not gonna hurt ya, kid – neither is Red. We just, we wanna help you," she stares softly at her, moving closer to her but not too close that they're touching. She mentally breaks at how innocent her questions are and that the answer she must give her will only add to her pain. "You were in a house fire, Lorna; and you lost your memory, which is why you can't remember much. And your family – they were in the fire too, kid, but they didn't make it. They died, sweetie." Those words are enough to bring the most heartbreaking cries to Lorna's body – and the sight makes tears well up in her own eyes.

Red, slightly shocked at how gentle Nicky's being with her – something she's definitely not use to seeing – carefully sits on the other side of Lorna, careful not to touch her and scare her off. "It hurts hearing that you lost your family, I know, and it must hurt even more since you can't remember them. And that absolutely breaks my heart, because family is everything to me and if I were put in your shoes, I couldn't even imagine how hard and painful that would be. I'm so sorry you have to go through this, sweetheart! But I want you to know, Nicky and I are here; we will take care of you and make sure you're okay. It doesn't matter to me if we're family or not, you need people to look out for you and the two of us are willing to do that. You will stay here, and you will be taken care of. You will overcome this pain – no matter how hard or how long it takes, you will. And you will be a stronger woman because of that." Her voice is firm, but also has a slight tenderness to it. Seeing how upset and broken this young woman is, reminds Red of when she first met Nicky – how broken she was having a horrific withdraw from heroin on her first night, how alone and neglected she felt from her birth mother's ignorance – and that's what makes this even harder for her to watch. It's as if she's watching a flashback of Nicky.

As Nicky sits there, helplessly watching Lorna sob and shake, she nearly freezes when she feels the petite woman crawl into her arms. But when she realizes what she's doing, she automatically wraps her arms securely around Lorna's waist – slowly rocking her back and forth as she holds her in her strong arms. "Let it out, kid; let it all out. You'll be okay; ma means it when she says we'll take care of you," she soothes, running a hand gently through the other's freshly washed hair. For several minutes, she just sits there holding and rocking the hysterical, sobbing woman. It finally eases up some and Nicky decides to bring her into the guest room – which is hers when she stays there – and when she enters the room, she gently places Lorna on the bed. She pulls the blanket down, wrapping it softly around the smaller woman. "Get some sleep, okay? You need rest; you probably haven't gotten a good night's sleep in a while, kid. Ma and I will be right downstairs if ya need anything. And don't be afraid to come get us if you do, we wanna be here and comfort you." Stroking her hair gently, the redhead carefully bends down to press a comforting kiss to Lorna's head and then quietly leaves the room.

* * *

Monday afternoon, a week since Lorna's been staying with them, brings an angry Marka Nichols marching up to the house. She notices the unfamiliar woman sitting on one of the porch swings, and rolls her eyes. _Great, another drug addict,_ the snobby woman thinks as she gives a cold glance to her. "Who the hell are you? Another one of Red's drug-addicted freeloaders? Never seen you here before," she nearly growls at the petite woman. She shakes her head, disgusted, before going to pound her fist on the door.

Lorna doesn't say anything as she sits on the swinging bench, staring the middle-aged woman over. She notices the slight resemblance she has with Nicky, and realizes this must be her real mother – the one who's always on business trips and forgetting about her. That makes her want to say something but she can't find her voice and is relieved when she sees the door swing open, a rage-filled Red staring out at Marka. "Before I even ask what you're even doing on my property, I hope I didn't just hear you insulting that sweet young woman sitting on my porch. You leave her alone!" Red's voice loud with fury as she glares darkly into Mrs. Nichols' eyes, "Now you tell me what the hell you're doing here, Marka, before I have my husband fry you up in his roasting pan."

Hearing the name of her mother, Nicky comes over – her facial expression cold and hard as she stands beside Red. "Wait a minute, you insulted Lorna? What the fuck, Marka? You don't even know her; leave her the fuck alone, you understand? You can come insult me all you want, cause' you're my mother – a bitch of a mother – but you better not say a word to her! And I don't even know why you're here anyway! You mean nothing to me, so you're just wasting your time coming here," she hisses, staring darkly ahead at her. Never once did she feel a connection with Marka; all through childhood, the affection she got was from nannies or if she was lucky, an occasional school teacher but never ever from her own mother.

"You got yourself a filthy mouth there, Nicole. Who am I kidding – you've always had a filthy mouth," Marka rolls her eyes, sick of her daughter and her sickening habits – her drug addiction, her gobby mouth, her obnoxious personality. "Why am I here? Because my house is a disgrace and I know damn well that's your doing! If you're going to stay at my house while I'm away, the least you can do is make sure it's clean before you leave. And if you're not going to do that, then I'll have the locks changed and you will never be allowed back in my house. Now I need to get to work, and thanks to you, I'm going to be late." She turns to leave, giving another disgusted look towards Lorna and quietly says to her, "You're a disgrace sitting there looking like a fucking homeless bum, you know that? Get a job, you piece of shit! And I thought my daughter was bad – at least she's better off than you are."

Nicky feels a rage bubbling inside of her and is ready to run after her mother when Red stops her, giving her a firm shake of the head but a comforting pat on the shoulder. Groaning, she stays back but goes over to sit next to Lorna – her eyes warm with empathy. She takes a firm hold of her hand, squeezing it soothingly in her own. "Don't you listen to a word my mother said, kid. Don't you dare think what she said is even true or matters; she's a bitch to everyone. Please don't believe you're any of what she called you, okay? You're a precious woman, Lorna; you're a beautiful and sweet girl. You're good, kid!" Her voice is the gentlest it's ever been as she takes the somewhat shaking woman into her arms and holds her tight. She presses a light kiss to her head, staring down at her with such compassion. She's never felt more protective of someone, in her life.


	5. Chapter 5

Lorna still isn't the best at remembering things. She regularly forgets where she's at, who Red and Nicky are, her own name, and whatnot; but she's slowly improving with the help of her notebook. Everything she needs to know is written in that notebook, and each morning, before she even gets out of bed, she looks through it. It helps her to get through the day – and sometimes it stops her from forgetting the day's events so quickly.

* * *

Today is no different as Lorna immediately reaches for the notebook – which she always places on the nightstand beside her bed – and spends a few minutes looking through it. She closes it, puts it back in its place, and then makes her way down the stairs. Something's off, she realizes, the house is unusually quiet. That's when she sees that no one is in the house but herself. She goes into the kitchen, finding a note laying amongst the table – informing her that Red and Nicky are off cleaning a couple of houses.

Left on her own, Lorna walks over to the coffee pot – relieved, though, to see that there is already coffee in it; she has no clue how to work a coffee pot. Once she finds herself a mug, she pours the dark, bold liquid into it and looks around for some sugar. A bag of white powder, that closely resembles the tiny granules of sugar, sits in the corner of the counter. Assuming it's sugar, Lorna unzips the bag and grabs a table spoon of it to put in her coffee. She mixes it, then has a small sip. Her face scrunches up at how bitter the taste is, causing her to add another heaping spoonful of 'sugar'. After another taste, Lorna gags even more – What the hell kind of sugar is this? She decides to stray away from that bag of bitterness and scurries around the kitchen for a different sweetener. Fortunately, she sees a tiny sugar bowl right beside the coffee pot and carefully adds a few dollops into her _extremely_ bitter cup of coffee. Her taste buds sing with joy when she takes a small sip – much better, she realizes.

Time moves slowly as the young woman sits at the table, sipping on her coffee. An odd sensation starts to overwhelm her; her eyes become dilated and her vision seems a bit hazy. She feels a rush of warmth flow throughout her body, causing her to wonder what on earth is going on with her. Is it that bag of bitter sugar that's causing this? She sighs, though, at least what she's feeling is pleasant. Lifting the mug to her lips, she takes a rather large gulp, lathering in the sweetness of it.

The kitchen door squeals open, bringing Lorna out of her hazy daze, and in comes a muttering Nicky. When her eyes land on the petite woman, though, her demeanor immediately softens. "Morning, kid," she gently says, closing the door before making her way to the table. She sits down beside her, a warm smile spreading across her cheeks. "Good coffee, huh?" Her eyebrows arch as she notices the euphoric expression on Lorna's face – one that seems a bit out of place, especially over a plain cup of coffee.

"Huh?" Lorna looks over at her, confused with the conversation. Her mind dozed off for a minute, and she didn't quite hear what Nicky asked her. She holds her mug up to her eyes, just staring into it as if it would stare back. "I – yes, the coffee is in the cup. I had to add a lot of sugar; it was so bitter. That white stuff in that bag," her speech is starting to slur, and the words are running together as she points towards the bag of white powder, "I don't think that was sugar. I put it in my coffee and the taste was really awful! What is that? Is that like, bitter sugar? Is bitter sugar even real, Nicky?" She starts laughing, her brown eyes as big as a full moon. They grow wider when she sees that Red isn't anywhere in sight. "Hey – how come that Russian woman – Red, is that it? - didn't come with you? I thought this was her house, too!"

Nicky feels nauseous when she hears that Lorna mistaken her bag of forgotten heroin for sugar. She hadn't meant to leave it out on the counter – especially at the risk of Red's seeing it – and now she feels absolutely terrible that she did forget about it. "Shit!" The redhead yells out, rushing to grab the bag full of her favorite drug. She takes a hard look at it – trying to figure out how much of it Lorna took. Gripping it tightly in her hands, she walks back to the table, pulling a chair to sit beside the other. "How much did you put in there, kid? This powder is not sugar – it's _heroin_! I shouldn't have fuckin' been so careless to leave it out. You need to tell me exactly how much of this you put into your coffee – can you do that for me?" She questions her very firmly, but places a hand comfortingly to her shoulder – making sure that the small woman knows she's not upset with her.

Her eyes big and bright, Lorna only smiles dopily up at her. She feels so good, like her body is floating on a cloud as she watches golden rain fall beneath her. " _Her-oh-win_?" She annunciates the word out much more than it needs to be; continuing to stare up at Nicky, "You said you like heroin, Nicky. You went to prison? Remember? For _her-oh-win_ addiction, and now it's in my coffee… Hmm, it doesn't taste good but I feel good; _real_ good, I think I'll just have to add some more of this her-oh-win to my coffee. Oh wait – you wanna know how much I put in? I think maybe a centi-inch-a-liter?" Her words slow, slurring together as she reaches for the bag – but is refused any more of it, making her faintly pout.

"No," Nicky almost growls, quickly putting the bag in her pocket. "This stuff is bad, kid. And you are not having any more of it. For fuck's sake, you can barely speak without your words fumbling all over the place. _A centi-inch-a-liter_ – the hell are you talkin' about? That's not even a word, Lorna. Obviously, you had way too much of this shit! Jesus Christ; Red is gonna have a fucking field day when she comes home. Don't you dare finish that coffee, you're already high as a damn kite." She hurriedly swipes away the cup before Lorna has a chance to sip it, and throws it into the sink. Seeing Lorna about to get up, she rushes to her side and wraps her arms securely around her waist. She carefully leads the delusional brunette up the stairs and into her room. "Let's stay up here and get you to calm down; you don't want to see Red when she's infuriated. Trust me, not a pretty sight."

Lorna just stares up at her with her big wide, innocent eyes. "S-sorry," her voice barely above a whisper, a quiet sigh escapes. She didn't mean to put heroin into her coffee; she didn't even realize that's what it was. She's never been around drugs before – how was she supposed to know that heroin looked almost exactly like sugar? "But-but are you-are you sure it's bad? I don't feel bad…I feel good and warm inside, Nicky. And I can kind of remember things better. Maybe it's a good drug?" She feels her eyes become heavy, all of a sudden, and it's harder to keep them open.

Shaking her head, Nicky hates what she's hearing. Her eyes look down at the tiny brunette, compassion shining through them as she carefully lays her in the bed. "Don't be sorry, kid; you didn't do anything wrong," she softly says, regretting being so harsh towards her just minutes ago – she knows it wasn't Lorna's fault for taking the drugs, the powder does slightly resemble sugar and especially to a person who has such a horrible memory. Who she's angry with is herself; she should have made sure not to leave it out in plain sight, or better yet, she should have thrown it away right when it was given to her, by an old friend. "No, Lorna; Heroin is not a good drug, and you will not be getting any more of it! It's bad and addictive, and is why I spent four years of my life locked away. And I am not about to let you get yourself in that same situation – especially over a stupid, fucking mistake like this! Now, try to close your eyes and rest. Hopefully by the time you wake up, you'll feel a lot more yourself again."

* * *

Hours later, Lorna's eyes flutter open as she notices a strong sensation of nausea overwhelming her. She quickly gets up and runs into the bathroom – heaving over the toilet for what seems like hours to her. Once she flushes the toilet, she goes to stand up but dizziness takes over and she falls to her knees. She can't move – her head is spinning and according to her eyesight, so is everything else. If she even tries to get up, her knees buckle and she tumbles back to the ground.

* * *

Hearing the loud thump from upstairs, Red decides to go up to see what's caused it. She notices the light to the bathroom is on and the door is open, so she slowly enters it. "Lorna, you in here?" A quiet cry answers her question as she carefully makes her way over to where it came from. Her eyes fill with concern, looking down at the tiny brunette. "What happened? Are you sick?" Gently, she places a hand on Lorna's back, slowly stroking it to bring her some comfort.

Still quite dizzy, she closes her eyes tight – hoping that will somehow stop the sensation. "I-I put, uh, I put," she starts off, her voice becoming nearly a whisper, "I put heroin in my coffee…I thought it was sugar. It looked like sugar, sitting in that bag on the counter. Sorry." Lorna feels ashamed of her mistake, and even worse that she mentioned it to Red. She hopes she doesn't get Nicky in trouble.

Red merely freezes when she hears that. Had Nicky been getting back into her old habits? Her face starts to redden at the thought of her daughter's choosing to do drugs again – especially after spending four years in prison for that very reason. She sighs, looking down at Lorna and tries to keep her anger hidden. "You don't need to apologize for a thing, Lorna. You didn't know," she says, pulling the woman from the floor and into her arms. She pats her back softly, but gives her a firm stare. "How much of it did you put in your coffee? It looks like it's still in your system."

"One, maybe two spoonsful," the brunette responds, not entirely sure. She can't think straight, especially not with the awful way she's feeling. She tries to open her eyes to look up at the Russian woman but that only causes the dizziness to intensify. "Everything is spinning, I can't move it's so bad. I didn't mean to do it. I knew something was wrong when I started to feel a little odd, and then I felt really good – I wanted more but Nicky told me no. And she wouldn't even let me finish the coffee! Will you let me have more of that stuff? It makes my memory work better, I think."

Anger boiling up inside of her, Red says nothing as she scoops the delirious brunette into her arms and makes her way down the stairs – on a rage-filled mission to find that rambunctious daughter of hers. She sees Nicky sitting in the living room – eyes glued to the television screen in front of her – so she makes her way in there, clicking the TV off. Staring darkly at the young redhead, she points to Lorna and, in a harsh voice, asks her, "How the hell did she get a hold of heroin, _Nicky_? Why was there a bag of heroin sitting on my kitchen counter?! _So help me God_ if you're doing that shit again, I will knock you into next year! And if Lorna, here, develops her own addiction to it – you'll be the one looking after her! Now, you give me the bag of heroin right this minute; there will be no drugs in my house. Do you want to get yourself sent back to prison, Nicky?" Her voice getting louder with each word, she sits Lorna down on the couch, and then yanks Nicky up – staring her over, wondering what reason she could possibly have to go back to doing drugs again.

Sighing, Nicky peers up at Red, a guilty glint in her big brown eyes and shakes her head. "Ma, I didn't even do it. I just – I forgot that I left it on the counter. I meant to throw it out, I really did. I don't know why I didn't just throw it out the minute I got it; but I promise you that I never touched it." She reaches into her pocket, grabbing the bag, and reluctantly hands it to Red. Sure, she wants to keep clean and stay out of trouble, but there are times when she longs to have it – to feel that pleasure it always gives her. "Come on, ma – don't be so hard on the kid, she didn't know what it was! She's not going to get addicted from one use. And besides, I took the coffee away from her as soon as she told me about what happened. There's no way in hell I'll let her use it again; I don't want her to go through what I did."

Red harshly takes the bag of powder, glaring darkly at it. She hates the sight of it – the evil it does to the people she loves, the pain it's caused her daughter for much of her life. She looks back up at Nicky, her anger subsiding some at the reassurance that she didn't actually take the drug. That doesn't mean she's letting her off the hook, so easily. "Good, I'm glad to hear you didn't take any of it. But I'm still upset that you've been keeping this in your possession without telling me. Who the hell gave it to you? And I'm not being hard on her, I'm just telling you that if she does end up with her own heroin addiction – she'll be your responsibility. Because it would be your fault for leaving it fucking laying around on my kitchen counter!" She lightly hits her on the back of the head, then pulls her in for a tight embrace. No matter how angry Nicky makes her, nothing can ever take away the love she has for her.

"Ma, it's not important who gave it to me," Nicky gently says, wrapping her own arms around the older woman's neck. She squeezes tight; Red has been the most positive influence she's ever had in her life, and she'd be disappointed in herself if she ever let her mother-figure down. "What matters is that I didn't do the drug, I wasn't ever going to use it. I'm sorry for being so careless about it, and that Lorna got a hold of it and is now suffering the terrible aftermath. But it's done with now, and there's no reason to dwell on how I ended up with it. I'm sorry I wasn't upfront with you about it – it literally slipped my mind when we found Lorna and everything that happened after that." She stares up into Red's compassionate eyes, and half-smiles when she sees that the other isn't entirely disappointed in her. She knows she did something right, at least.

* * *

Lorna and Nicky are sitting out on the porch, a week after the heroin incident, when a thought comes to the dark-haired woman's mind. She peers across at Nicky, who's sitting beside her with earphones plugged in, and tugs on her arm. The taller woman shuts off her music, looking down at Lorna as she waits for her to speak. "I wanna get a job," she blurts out, an innocent smile on her face. She enjoys living with the two women, but feels like she's burdening them by not bringing any income in.

Giving a skeptical glance, Nicky takes out her earphones completely and wraps an arm loosely around the petite woman's shoulders. She's a bit surprised at how outright Lorna is with her suggestion. "You wanna job? What kind of job are we talkin' about, kid?" She wonders what's brought this out of her so soon; she still has so much work to do with her memory that the last thing Nicky thinks Lorna needs is to be worrying about a damn job.

Shrugging, Lorna has no clue what kind of job she wants. She doesn't even know if she's ever worked before – she must have had some sort of job in her past life, but nothing rings any bells. "I don't really know, I just – I feel like I need some sort of job so I can give you and Red money for how kind you've both been to me." She states, looking down at her hands. _And, because I don't want to be a bum who's mooching off you,_ she silently adds in her head.

"Kid, you don't need to give us any damn money," Nicky firmly says, giving her shoulders a gentle squeeze as she looks softly into her eyes, "Now, if you wanna work just to give you something to do during the day – that's fine. But you better not be wanting this because you think you owe us; that's a bunch of bullshit. Ma and I took ya in because you need somewhere to live; you fucking lost your house in a horrible house fire. If you really want a job so bad, maybe we can see if you can work at the diner – the one some random woman brought you to. Would you like that?"

Scrunching her face up in confusion, Lorna stares up at her and questions, "Diner? What diner are you talking about, Nicky?" Her memory, she realizes, will probably never heal but she's trying so hard to find new ways to compensate for it. Yet, that doesn't always work out for her – something she'll just have to get used to and understand that it will happen.

Nicky sighs, knowing that Lorna still has so much to work on with remembering things. Something that worries her if the woman does go through with getting a job. She would hate it, that if Lorna does get a job, her other coworkers – and boss, even – may discriminate her from things just because of her not-so-perfect memory. "It's a nice little diner – downtown, you'd probably love working there, kid. The owner is a very kind lady and it's actually not that far from the house that Red and I clean. So, you know, if you were to get a job there, we could drop you off on our way and get you when we're done," she suggests. She would feel a lot better if Lorna did get a job at that diner – at least she knows the owner wouldn't do anything to cause problems.

* * *

A week later finds Lorna starting her first day of work – she got the job at the family-run diner, as a waitress. As soon as she arrives, she is met with Gloria, the owner, who kindly assigns her to shadow Daya around. She informs her that this will be a good way for her to learn how their restaurant runs, and secretly hopes that it will keep Lorna's memory from being too forgetful.

Lorna slowly walks over to where she's told Daya is, and is a bit relieved to see that the woman is about the same age as herself. Maybe the two of them will become friends, she thinks. She places a friendly smile on her face, staring up at the taller woman with a bit of apprehension. "Hi, I'm Lorna – today's my first day and I was told to shadow you? I don't know what that means, but I assume it's something like following," she casts her eyes downward, not too sure about her decision to start working – her people skills aren't exactly the best.

"We've met before, Lorna," the other softly says, but places a smile on her own face. "It's okay, though, that you don't remember. You were pretty out of it the last time you were here; glad to see you're doing better, you look so much healthier! Oh, and yeah, you're close – shadowing just means you'll come to each table with me and watch how I interact with the customers. It's what we do with all the new hires. It's quite straightforward, really." She is, honestly, very pleased to see that the petite brunette looks so healthy – not horribly sick and thin like the last time she was in there.

Just then, the door of the diner opens and in comes a young man. One, that if Lorna could remember, would look very familiar and would also bring a rather sick feeling to her – but only if she could remember the man. And since she didn't have any recollection of him, she didn't seem too bothered when he came walking in, taking a seat at a nearby table as he secretly stares her down. He shakes his head while continuing to follow her with his eyes. _Such an easy target you are, Lorna, with that awful memory of yours,_ the man thinks to himself, a smirk displayed across his face.


	6. Chapter 6

Lorna plasters an excessively cheerful smile on her face as she follows Daya to the man's table. She watches, carefully, how the taller woman interacts with him – writing down his order on her notepad, and then is off to retrieve his beverage. She's about to follow when the man catches her attention, clearing his throat blatantly loud. "Uh, did you need something else sir?" Her voice nervously asks as she stares up at him. Something about his appearance brings a shiver to her body, and she's not sure what it is.

His blue eyes peer into hers, a cold gleam overshadowing them, as he takes in every inch of her body. "Oh, Lorna," Christopher darkly says, in a voice only she can hear. "You forgot me already?" He chuckles, continuing to stare the petite woman down. Reaching into his pocket, he pulls out a tiny bag of a familiar white powder and dangles it up in her face. "I hear you're into drugs now, is that right? Little innocent Lorna Morello is doing," his voice gets quieter, as he stands up and walks closer to her, then whispers menacingly into her ear, "heroin? At least your parents aren't here to scold you for it, right?" With a mocking laugh, he forces the tiny baggie into Lorna's frail, shaky, hands. After letting one of his hands slowly run down her body, Christopher goes back to sit at his table.

"Lorna?" Hearing her name being called – by the person she's supposed to be working with – Lorna quickly throws the bag into her pocket, then shakily makes her way over to Daya. She gives her an apologetic look, unable to find her voice, and then helps her get an order ready for another customer's table. "Why don't I see if my aunt Gloria has something else to train you in? You seem overwhelmed," the light brunette suggests as she starts heading in the direction of her aunt.

The next thing Lorna knows is that she's being lead to the kitchen, and given a pair of rubber gloves. She is met with another coworker – a young woman with long black hair, and a quite vibrant gothic vibe to her – who hands her a knife, giving her a hard look over. "You any good at chopping up avocados?" Lorna nods, and also notices the slight Spanish accent in her voice. The other woman grabs a bag of avocados and brings it back over to the counter, dumping them out. She grabs a mixing bowl, placing it in front of herself, and then looks at Lorna, "You gotta rinse em and then get em outta the shells. Then chop em up and put em in this bowl – I'll show you how to make guacamole when you're all finished with that."

Lorna quickly gets to work at rinsing and un-shelling the avocados - keeping quiet as she does so. She secretly has no clue what she's even doing; it's not like she remembers if she's chopped up an avocado before, but she tries her best to do it right. Putting all of her concentration into the avocados, she nearly jumps when she hears the other woman speak to her. "What's your name? Are you from around here? I don't think I've ever seen you before. My name's Marisol, but everyone calls me Flaca," the dark-haired woman looks at her as she gets the seasonings prepared out on the counter.

Putting a handful of chopped up avocado into the bowl, Lorna turns to glance at the other worker. "Good to meet you, Flaca. Uh I'm Lorna, and not entirely sure where I'm from. I have really bad Amnesia," she blurts out - feeling it's better to just be upfront about her memory issues than to have to pretend everything's normal. She continues chopping and throwing the green vegetable into the bowl; when she finally finishes, she throws the shells into the trashcan and washes her hands in the sink.

"Amnesia? That must suck! Well, at least, you didn't let that stop you from getting a job," Flaca says, quietly wondering how she lost her memory in the first place but keeps the thought to herself. She continues to make small talk with the brunette as she shows her how to make guacamole. It takes the entire rest of Lorna's shift for them to finish making the famous Mexican dip, that also happens to be the diner's most popular dish.

* * *

Nicky sits at one of the tables, waiting for Lorna to finish her shift. She sips on the soda that she ordered and watches as the familiar brunette walks out from the back and over to her. A smile forms when Lorna sees her and eagerly comes walking to the table. "Hey, kid; how was your first day? Did ya work hard?" Something about the petite brunette always makes a warm feeling rush through Nicky's body. Maybe it's her innocence or that she's got no family, and needs to be taken care of. Whatever it is, though, Nicky knows there's no way she can ever go back to a life without Lorna in it somehow.

Nodding and grinning so wide, Lorna slides into the seat across from Nicky. "I learned how to make fresh guacamole today, and met some nice people. I love it here, already! I'll have to write all of this down in my notebook so I can remember it. Especially the guacamole recipe – that's one of their best dishes here," she speaks in a cheerful tone, her eyes sparkling with how happy she is. She didn't think she'd do well here, with her memory so bad, but she surprised herself and her coworkers treated her wonderfully.

The redhead has to refrain herself from reaching over and grabbing her (gently) by the cheeks and kissing her madly on the lips. And when she realizes that she even had such a thought like that in her, she almost chokes on her soft-drink. "Glad to hear it, kid. So, everyone was nice to you? No one did anything to make you feel uncomfortable, right?" She asks, looking her over nervously. She didn't really think that any of the people who worked here would, but that wouldn't stop her from worrying about it. Seeing the other reply with the shake of her head and a reassuring smile, Nicky sighs in relief and plasters a smile on her own face. "Well, let's get on outta here and head home. Ma's already there, waiting to hear all about your work day!"

* * *

Lorna sits, silently, the whole ride back to Red's house. She keeps thinking of that strange man and the tiny baggie he gave her…that she just remembers is still sitting in her pocket. Her face drains of all color as she squeezes the plastic bag in her hand. "What's wrong, kid? You look like you've seen a damn ghost!" Nicky's voice brings Lorna back to the present, as she turns to face her – her brown eyes full of uncertainty.

"Oh, uh, nothing's wrong," Lorna musters up a fake smile, and quickly takes her hand out of her pocket. "Just kind of drained from work. That's all." She hopes to sound convincing, she doesn't want Nicky to be suspicious of her. And she definitely doesn't want her to find about the bag of drugs that's sitting in her pocket – not because she's going to use them or anything, she's certainly not; she just doesn't want to upset Nicky or, even worse, for her to be tempted to take the drug and use it.

Sighing, Nicky stares over at her with a stern look. She shakes her head, knowing easily that the young woman isn't being honest with her. "Kid, please, I can smell a lie from a yard away," she states, reaching her free hand over to grab one of Lorna's. Soothingly, she squeezes the hand she holds and peers at her softly. "Come on, tell me what's the matter! You don't have to hide anything from me, kid. I mean it – I'll do whatever I can to help you, but you need to tell me the truth. I'm not buying this ' _oh it's just work_ ' bullshit!" She always could tell when someone was lying to her, and this is no different.

Gulping uneasily, Lorna bows her head down in shame of herself. She shakily places her hand in her pocket, grabbing the tiny bag, and takes it out. Her eyes close shut for a minute, she tries to think of what to say. Letting out a deep breath, Lorna finally opens her eyes and faces Nicky – who's watching her with deep concern and care. "S-s-some man g-g-gave me this," her voice is timid and fragile as she shakily holds out the little bag of powder.

"What'd he look like, kid?! This man gave it to you while you were working? Are you fuckin' kidding me?" Nicky grits her teeth in a rage as she pulls the car into the driveway of her self-proclaimed mother's house. She shuts the car off and sits there, looking at Lorna. Her eyes automatically soften when she sees how tearful and broken apart Lorna is over this. "Lorna, what happened? Did this man threaten you or anything, kid? He tell you his name?" She quickly grabs the other's hand and squeezes it gently in her own.

Lorna just shakes her head as she lets her cries finally come out. She didn't know why the man handed her a bag of drugs – that's not something she wanted nor had any interest in. And she certainly didn't want Nicky to be tempted by seeing the bag in her hands. "He-he was one of the customer's…and he just gav-gave it to me when no one was looking. He didn't threaten me or anything – just told me he 'knows I'm into drugs now'. But-but that's not true, Nicky! I-I don't even kn-know him!" More and more tears come rushing out of her eyes, leaking down her cheeks.

Nicky feels anger boiling inside of her, but does her best to keep it inside. She gets out of the car, making her way to the passenger side, and opens the door. Taking the clearly upset brunette into her arms, she presses a soothing kiss to her head and walks up the stairs to the house. "What an asshole the man is! If you see him again, you better tell someone! He has no right to be giving you or anyone drugs…And what the fuck does he know about you anyway? How can he possibly assume such bullshit like that?!" She grunts, taking the tiny powder-filled bag from Lorna's shaky hands and puts it in her own pocket – to make sure Red doesn't see it and become suspicious.

As the two young women come in the door, Red – who's been sitting, reading a book on the couch – shuts her book and turns to stare at her daughter and Lorna. "So, I'm guessing your first day didn't go so well, Lorna?" She questions, noticing the tear-covered face, and how Nicky's holding her. She wonders if that's what's made her so upset…or if something else happened. Giving a hard stare towards her daughter, she knows she'll definitely tell her the truth of what's causing the brunette's tears.

Helping Lorna to sit down, Nicky stares at Red and shakes her head. She can't have the older woman find out about the drugs – she'd have a fit about it – but she also recognizes lying to her isn't an option, at least not the _best_ option. "It's not work that's upset her, ma – she loves it there – she just isn't feeling well. Her head hurts," she says before she can stop herself. She knows lying to Red is the worst thing she can do, and she hadn't planned to do it, but lying comes so easily to her and she's good at it.

Red's features immediately fill with compassion and concern as she goes over to Lorna, pulling her in for a comforting embrace. She rubs her back softly, peering down at her, "I'm sorry to hear you're not feeling well, sweetheart. How about you rest here on the couch while Nicky and I make you some tea?" She presses a motherly kiss to her head before gently releasing her and laying her down on the couch. She wraps a blanket around her, and then has Nicky follow her into the kitchen.

* * *

Putting on a pot of water, Red turns to stare at Nicky – a stern look on her face. "What happened to cause Lorna to hurt her head? Don't tell me you've been busy pushing her to remember things! I thought I warned you not to do that; no wonder her damn head's hurting her, she's straining her brain by being forced to access memories that she has no ability to access," she shakes her head in disbelief at how stubborn her daughter could be. She knows how much Nicky wants to help the poor woman, but that doesn't mean she should be taking such drastic and harmful measures.

Frustrated, Nicky rolls her eyes as she lets out a groan. She knows not to push Lorna into anything that would hurt her, and she wouldn't want to hurt her, in the first place. It angered her, somewhat, that Red would even think – for a minute – that she would ever do such a thing to the tiny brunette. "I fuckin' know that, ma! Jesus, you think I'd do something to intentionally hurt her? I didn't force her to remember anything. She's had a long day of work – that's probably put a lot of strain on her." She rubs her temples, and then grabs a can of Diet Coke from the fridge – cracking it open and gulping it down.

"You're right, you're right," Red sighs, putting tea leaves into the boiling water. She stirs it around while looking back over at her daughter – her eyes full of love and warmth, "I'm sorry I jumped to conclusions, Nicky. But I know how you are. You care about people, and will do whatever you can to make them better – even if it might not be the best thing to do. Your heart is in the right place – you just need to make sure your head is too, sometimes. Now, why don't you go check on Lorna and make she's okay? Her tea should be ready here in a few minutes."

* * *

Nicky sits on the couch, placing Lorna's head onto her lap, and runs her thumb tenderly across her forehead. "Ma will be in with your tea soon. You okay, kid?" She looks down at the brunette, stroking her face delicately. Something about taking care of this petite young woman filled Nicky's body with warmth and satisfaction. It gives her something to do – a way to keep her mind off doing drugs. She feels needed, and that is one of the best feelings in the world to her.

Her cries gone now, Lorna nods yet stares up at the redhead with some confusion. She can't help but wonder why Nicky lied to Red about the reason for her crying. "I'm fine now…but how come you told Red my head is hurting? That's not true," her brown eyes wide as she peers into the taller woman's. She sighs, feeling bad for having drugs and getting Nicky involved in it – she should have tried harder to keep her mouth shut, as to not bring the redhead into this, and possibly jeopardize the relationship she had with Red.

Stroking her finger tips against the brunette's cheeks, Nicky bends down to press a gentle kiss to her forehead. Figures, though, that Lorna would catch her lie and question her for it. She inwardly smiles – to call her out on the lie, that must mean the young woman cares about her well-being. "I know, I know that. I just – I figured it'd be best not to mention the drug incident to ma. She'd go ballistic over it. Besides, it's not like you did anything wrong, so it's best to keep our mouths shut about it. But if this man comes up to you again and gives you drugs, we will have to tell her. I don't want you getting constantly harassed by him at work. So, that means you better be honest with me about everything that goes on there, you got that kid?" She smiles when the other gives her a satisfying nod in return.

A few minutes' pass by and in comes Red, with a steaming mug of her homemade lemon tea. She carefully hands it to Lorna, sitting on the other side of her, and stares at her with concern. "How's your head?" Her voice gently asks while she silently observes her. Taking care of others has always been Red's desire – from being a mother to her three boys, to a prison mother to Nicky (and now an actual mother to her on the outside) as well as all the other vulnerable women in there. It gave her a lot of pleasure to use her maternal instincts to look after those in need.

Lorna, gratefully, takes the steaming cup and sips the tea. She stares over at the Russian woman, and smiles kindly. "I feel much better – thank you for the tea. It's lovely," she softly says, "And thank you for letting me stay here. You both are so kind and I appreciate all that you've done for me…even if I can't always remember." She really is so thankful for having met the two of them – they've given her a home and have helped her so much.

"Good – I'm glad to hear you're not in pain anymore," Red gives her head a gentle pat, smiling genuinely at her. She shakes her head, slightly, when she hears the woman thank them for taking her in. As if she'd have let her live out on the streets, she thinks, no way in hell. "Oh, Lorna, you don't have to thank us! You needed a home and a family; there's no way I wouldn't have let you stay here! You're part of our family now, honey. Nicky and I will always be here to take care of you, and help you through anything." She pulls the small woman into her arms, pressing a motherly kiss on the top of her head.

* * *

That night as Lorna sits up in her bed – looking through her journal – an image of someone's face runs through her mind. She notices a familiarity about the person's face; a woman with the same brown hair as herself, and blue eyes. She tries to think of who it is, pressing her hands to her temple – as if that will make her remember. "F-Franny," she suddenly cries out, feeling tears come welling up in her eyes. Slamming the notebook shut and tossing it to her nightstand, she tries to stop from crying but a loud sob escapes her.

Nicky rushes in the room – hearing the heartbreaking sobs from across the hall – and her eyes glaze over in empathy at the sight over Lorna crying, her body curled into a ball under the mass of blankets covering her. She sits beside her, gently touching her on the shoulder, "What's got you all upset, kid?" Instinctively, her arms wrap tight around the smaller woman's body, drawing her close. She rubs her hands up and down Lorna's back, hoping the soothing motion will calm her down a bit.

"I-I-I saw-saw a face," Lorna cries out, holding onto the sleeves of Nicky's shirt as her body begins to tremble. "F-Franny – she's-she's my older sister and I, I saw her face… Where is she? Is she here, Nicky?" She asks, her voice so small and frail, and she looks up at the taller woman with big, innocent, pained eyes.

Seeing the look on her face and how frail she is, Nicky almost breaks herself. She pulls her closer, holding her tight against her chest – trying to stop her body from shaking so much. "Shh, calm down, kid," she soothes into Lorna's ear, stroking her back as softly as she can. It breaks her heart to hear how upset the brunette is, and that she has to remind her of her family's tragic demise. "She's not here, kid; there was a terrible house fire where you lived, and you are the only one who survived. I'm so sorry, baby, so sorry! I wish I could bring your family back for you, but I can't. I'm sorry you have to go through this, kid, you don't deserve to," her voice cracking with the amount of sincerity in it. She presses a comforting kiss to the top of Lorna's head as she gently rocks her in her arms.


	7. Chapter 7

In the wee hours of the morning, Nicky wakes to the sound of Lorna's screaming. She quickly jumps out of bed and runs across the hall to the guest room. The brunette screams as she tosses and turns underneath her blankets, and the sight of this brings tears to Nicky's eyes. She carefully approaches her, sitting beside her while placing a hand onto her shoulder, "Lorna, what's wrong? Are you hurt?" Her voice deep with concern, using her hand to rub soothing circles around the other's forehead.

Lorna, still sleeping, pushes away from the person who's trying to comfort her and screams louder. As soon as she fell asleep, visions of the house fire consumed her – she could feel the flames heating up her body, and noticed the lifeless, burned, bodies of her family. It was hard for her to identify who they were, but she had been able to recognize one as Franny, her older sister. The sight of her dismantled body brought a sensation of fear to Lorna, she tried to run out of the room but the smoke kept getting thicker. It's so thick that she can barely breathe without coughing to death. " _Get me outta here! PLEASE!_ I can't breathe," she cries out, her body shaking.

"Lorna, you're fine!" Nicky soothes, wrapping her in a hug. She presses a comforting kiss to her head, holding her tight to stop her from shaking. "You're dreaming – whatever you're scared of, it's not real. Come on, wake up! You're okay, kid," she holds her arms tighter around the tiny brunette, slowly rocking her back and forth. Her heart aches for what her friend must be seeing, what she must be remembering in her dream – it must be something horrific for her to cry and shake this hard.

Finally, Lorna's eyes pop open and she stares up at who's holding her in shock. A small amount of relief washes over as she realizes it was only a dream, but then tears come pouring back out when she remembers her entire family is gone. "The, the house – it was on fire and-and I saw, I saw four burned bodies…and the one looked like – like the face I kept seeing. I think it was-it was F-Franny, and if-if that's true then all four of those people were – are – my f-family! And they're all _dead_ ," she cries out, as if finding out she's lost them for the first time.

How much distress it seems the young woman is in makes Nicky's heart break for her. She pulls her closer, tangling her fingers in her hair and kissing her tenderly on the forehead. "I know, kid, I know," she softly whispers, running her hand delicately through her hair, "I'm so sorry you have to go through this…You're gonna be okay, though; it's just gonna take time, kid." Her lips press comfortingly onto Lorna's cheek as she keeps a protective hold on her.

Shaking her head violently, Lorna stares up at the redhead - her eyes puffy and red, "You don't-you don't understand! My-my family, they're-they're gone, Nicky! I'll never get to see them again...I-I'm all alone now - I have no family." Knowing that no matter if she remembers or not, she will never have the chance to be with her family again, causes her a lot of grief.

"You're not alone, baby; you have Red and I. We are your family now. We're here for you, kid," Nicky carefully says, stroking her tenderly on the cheek. She gives her a soothing kiss on the forehead before vigilantly laying Lorna's head against her chest. It troubles her to see how much the young woman is suffering – she knows what it's like to not have a family, which makes her feel even more protective towards Lorna.

* * *

An hour passes by and Nicky has finally gotten Lorna to fall back to sleep. Unfortunately, she's wide awake now and can't get herself to sleep – so she decides to head downstairs to make herself a cup of tea. She silently makes her way down the stairs, not wanting to wake anyone up. Entering the kitchen, she jumps a bit when she sees Red sitting at the table. "What're you doing up, ma?" She asks as she grabs herself a mug from the cabinet and pours hot water into it.

Red looks up from her book and narrows her glasses to stare at her daughter. "I could ask you the same question," she says matter-of-factly, giving a firm look to her. She reaches for her glass of water, taking a sip of it. "I woke up when I heard Lorna's crying and wasn't able to get back to sleep. I assume that's why you're up, too. I saw you comforting her when I peaked in, before I came down here to read. Seems to me that you really care about her, Nicky." Her eyebrows arch somewhat as she speaks – she's never seen the rambunctious daughter of hers care so much for another person's emotions before.

After Nicky finishes steeping her tea, she walks over to the table and has a seat beside her mother figure. A sigh escapes her as she gives a slight nod of her head. "She remembers her older sister…and had a dream about seeing her body in the fire. I feel so bad for the kid, ma! She finally might be getting some of her memories back, but her family isn't here anymore. It's terrible to see her go through this – my heart aches for her," she sadly responds, having a sip of her tea. "Seeing what's happened to this poor woman also makes me feel so thankful that I have you…I've been in her shoes before, I know how painful it is to have absolutely no family."

Hearing that, Red places her hand over top of her daughter's and gives it a gentle pat. "I know you have, my lovely Nicky, but you will never be without family again. And neither will Lorna – she has the two of us now, we'll look after her." She firmly confirms, stroking comforting circles around the younger woman's hand. Staring into Nicky's big brown eyes, the Russian mother can't help but smile – she always wished she had a daughter to balance out her three boys, so when she met the redhead in prison she knew it was fate that brought them together. Nicky is the daughter she never got to have, and she will forever be grateful for having found her.

* * *

Later in the morning, Lorna wakes up feeling refreshed and having no recollection of what happened hours earlier. She takes a quick shower, dresses herself for work, and heads downstairs. As she makes her way to the kitchen to get herself a cup of coffee, she notices Nicky sitting in the living room giving her a concerned glance. She wonders what that's about but just shrugs it off and continues to prepare her bold beverage.

The brunette carries her steaming mug with her as she goes to sit in the living room with Nicky. She stares at her, noticing that she's still giving her that look. "Why are you looking at me like that? Is there something on my face or something?" Lorna questions while bringing her mug to her lips and savoring a sip of the strong coffee. She keeps her eyes focused on the redhead beside her, waiting eagerly for her to answer.

"No; you look great, kid. I'm just worried about you is all," her voice warm with concern as she reaches over to place a loose strand of Lorna's hair behind her ear. She peers into her eyes, searching for any signs of distress. "You feelin' better, kid? You had a bit of rough night last night. You think you'll be okay at work today? I don't want you to overdo anything, Lorna." Nicky speaks firmly, gently pulling the smaller woman in for a friendly embrace.

Lorna gives a confused glance up at her, wondering what she's talking about – what does she mean by 'rough night'? She ignores her curiosity though, and just nods her head while smiling kindly. "I feel great, Nicky. Definitely ready for work – it's really such a nice place. As soon as I get my first paycheck, I'm giving it to you and Red. It's the least I can do for you two after all the nice things you've done for me. I can't live here without contributing somehow, ya know?"

Shaking her head, Nicky cups her hands tenderly around the other's cheeks and looks sternly into her dark eyes. "That's real sweet of you, kid, but you don't owe us a damn thing. You think we'd leave you to fend for yourself after finding you so lost and alone? Hell no! That paycheck is all yours, you're not giving it to either of us. You're the one working for it – why the fuck should you have to give it up? Now you stop this nonsense and finish your coffee. Ma's gonna be ready to leave in a few minutes," she presses a soft kiss to Lorna's forehead, smiling warmly at her as she drinks the rest of her beverage.

* * *

A few hours before Lorna's shift is up, Nicky finds herself wandering the streets to kill some time. Red let her off early from cleaning, and instead of going to the diner to check on her friend – as she didn't want her to think that she's hovering over her all the time – she figures a nice walk down town would be a great way to spend her afternoon. She stops at a coffee shop, which happens to be right next to the diner coincidentally, and orders her favorite caffeinated beverage – a venti cappuccino with two shots of espresso. Ever since she gave up her most favored drug of all, her heroin, she's gone to caffeine as her new drug of choice.

With her coffee in hand, she walks out the door and contemplates whether to stop in the diner. _Screw it_ , she thinks, _I'm going in_. She opens the door, walking inside, and smiles when she sees that Lorna's the hostess today. She walks over to where the shorter woman is standing, happy to see how truly in love she is with her job. "I'd like a table for me and my coffee, you got anything available?" She gives a light-hearted smirk to Lorna, slowly sipping on her cappuccino.

Lorna laughs a bit as she nods her head and has Nicky follow her to an empty table. Once the redhead is sat in her seat, she stares at her while holding up a menu, "Would you and your coffee like a menu?" She asks, continuing the older woman's joke. Seeing Nicky while she's on the clock makes her smile – it made her work day even better.

Nicky shakes her head but gives her a warm smile. "Just thought I'd stop by and see how you're doing, kid. Ma let me leave early, so I've just been wandering around town and was getting bored of that. How's your day? Any good stories to tell – well I guess you'll have to wait to tell those when you get off." She's tempted to reach out and hold one of Lorna's hands but she refrains herself – knowing that's not a good idea while she's working.

"That was nice of her," Lorna says, looking in to her eyes, "Today's going very well. I've been hostess-ing all day, and I really like it. Not too much to tell, it's been pretty slow today! I had better get back to work before I get in trouble. I only have a couple more hours!" She hurries off back to the front of the restaurant as a few customers pile in.

Watching her tend to them, Nicky sips on her coffee. She notices how great Lorna seems to be with the customers and that warms her heart tremendously. She's too absorbed in watching the tiny brunette that she nearly chokes on her drink when she hears someone clear their throat quite loudly next to her. Looking in front of her, she notices the same lady who found Lorna after Christopher's kidnapping her standing before her with her arms crossed over her chest. "Oh, hi – uh Gloria, is it?" She gets a nod in response, and smiles. "Ma and I can never thank you enough for finding Lorna and keeping her safe until we got her. How's she doing – work-wise? Last night was pretty hard for her and I've been worrying all day about how work was going for her."

Gloria has a seat across from her, giving her a reassuring smile. "Lorna's a great worker – she never complains about anything and does things without even being asked. Today's been really great for her, she said being a hostess is her favorite task so far and I think the customers are taking a liking to her," she honestly answers; she hasn't had a coworker with that much optimism in a long while. "Daya, my niece, has been keeping an eye on her though – to make sure she doesn't get overwhelmed."

Before their conversation can go any further, a loud thump from across the diner gains everyone's attention. Both women turn to see what's causing such commotion, and become deeply worried when they see Lorna lying on the ground. They quickly run over to her, only now noticing the man hovering over her – taunting her and calling her such vulgar names. Nicky instantly recognizes the man to be Christopher and her face becomes red with rage. She gently bends down, scooping the small brunette into her arms and then stares up at him, "What the fuck is your problem? What did you do to her?! Isn't it enough that you've fucking lied to her – telling her she's your cousin – and then kidnapping her, locking her up in a damn basement to starve to death? Now you have to come bully her while she's working?! You're an evil son of a bitch!" She growls at him, tempted to get a knife to stab him with. But she decides against that as she holds protectively onto Lorna, trying her hardest to bring her comfort.

Staring between the man and Nicky, Gloria realizes this must be the person who's responsible for her employee's past troubles. The thought alone brings a boiling rage to her as she glares darkly at Christopher, taking her phone out of her pocket. "So, you're the reason this poor young child was lying on my sidewalk, barely clinging to life? Huh, is that right you little punk? And now you think you got the right to come into my diner and harass my employee? Oh, hell no! You've just earned yourself a one-way ticket to jail! I'm calling the police, and making sure you don't leave here unless it's in handcuffs," she yells, her accent becoming more defined as her anger gets worse. She dials the local police department as she grips tightly onto the young man's shoulder, making sure he doesn't try to escape.

Nicky looks down at Lorna with deep concern, especially since she hasn't said a word yet or has even let out a cry. Her usually very expressive face is pale and emotionless as she stares blankly ahead, not even noticing the commotion around her. "Lorna, sweetie… _look_ at me! I need to make sure you're okay, kid," she pleads, cupping the smaller woman's face in her hands. Her brown eyes peer softly into Lorna's, searching for some sort of reaction. It baffles her to see that she's not even crying or shaking a bit from the encounter.

Slowly, timidly, Lorna moves her head to stare up at the frantically worried redhead. She stares hardcore into her eyes but says nothing. Her mouth opens briefly as if to speak, but she shuts it and continues to just look at Nicky. She has no clue what to do, how to feel, or what to say. The day was going by so smoothly for her – she was enjoying her shift, and then this happened. It didn't make sense to her; why did some man who she hardly even knows come in here and say all those terrible things to her?

"Lorna," Nicky softly says, pulling her closer to her body as she places a comforting kiss to the top of her head. "Talk to me, baby…What did he do to you, huh? Come on, say something. Don't be afraid to tell me; I'm here for you, kid, I want to keep you safe." She runs her hand gently through Lorna's short hair, staring deeply into her eyes. It worries her to see absolutely no emotion from her friend – she wonders what exactly Christopher said to her to make her shut down like this.

Putting her phone back in her pocket, Gloria reverts her attention back to Lorna and starts to wonder if she might be suffering with a concussion – due to her falling and probably hitting her head. "Lorna, you have to talk to us and tell us what happened. Does your head hurt? You must have hit it when you fell. And if you did, you could have a concussion! Concussions are really serious, so you need to start talking. We need to make sure you're okay, sweetheart." She states, her voice filled with an uneasiness as she looks the young woman over.

Nicky sighs at that – knowing that's probably a high possibility. She strokes Lorna's head soothingly, hoping that if she is in pain the motion with ease some of it. "You're probably right – we should get her to a hospital and have her looked at just to be safe," she looks sadly down at Lorna, who seems lost in her own little world and presses a tender kiss to her forehead. "It's okay, kid, you're gonna be okay. I promise. I'm gonna give ma a call and have her meet us at the hospital, okay? We're gonna get you taken care of, baby, don't you worry."

* * *

Once in the emergency room, Nicky sits at Lorna's bedside as she strokes her hand and anxiously waits for Red to arrive. Lorna still hasn't said a word to anyone, which is only making her worry even more. Finally, Red comes running in the room and Nicky feels relief wash over her. She carefully releases Lorna's hand so that she can briefly embrace her mother. Her arms wrap tightly around the Russian woman's neck as she stares frantically up at her, "She won't talk to anyone, ma…I'm so worried about her!"

Red holds her daughter tight, pressing a soothing kiss on the top of her head. "It's gonna be okay, sweetheart. We won't leave here until Lorna's all better and back to her talkative self again," she says, looking in to Nicky's deeply worried eyes. She gives her another tight squeeze and pat on the head before releasing her and turning her attention over to the silent brunette. Her blue eyes glaze over in sympathy as she walks over to Lorna's bedside. She stares down at her, placing her hand gently on her forehead and caressing it in a comforting manner. "What happened, honey? Why are you scared to talk anyone? It's okay, Lorna…everyone is here to help you. You don't need to be afraid, precious one; you're safe now."


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, finally, here is chapter eight. I am very, very sorry for the late update. I have had the hardest time writing this chapter; I had writer's block for well over two months and no good ideas for this. But, finally, one day I just made myself sit down and come up with something. So here it is.

Chapter Eight

"We have the results from her MRI scan," the doctor says, focusing on the forms in her hands, "and it seems she's got a minor concussion. We're going to keep her a few hours longer to observe her and then she'll be good to go." She gives a too cheerful smile towards the three women as she slowly makes her way to the door.

Nicky angrily walks over to stand in front of the door. Her arms cross defensively over her chest as she gives a hard stare up towards the doctor. "That's it? What about her memory issues? And you're just gonna fuckin' let her leave with a concussion?!"

Red immediately goes over to her daughter, placing a firm hand on her shoulder while giving an apologetic glance to the doctor, "I'm sorry. What my daughter means is Lorna's already having memory troubles from a previous accident and we have no clue how this minor concussion will affect her now…is there anything you can do to help with that? Is there a medication you can give her or something?"

Turning from the door, the doctor sighs. She looks over the charts quickly and scribbles down a prescription. "Here's a script for some pain medicine," she blankly states, handing the paper to Red. "As for the memory loss, there's nothing we can do about that. The scan results showed nothing about such issues. I'll have one of the nurses come in to check on her in a bit and then the three of you will be out of here." Just as quick as she says this, she's out the door.

Shaking her head irritatingly, Nicky walks back to Lorna's bedside and gently grabs hold of one of her hands. Using her thumb, she tenderly strokes over her knuckles. "Lorna, how are ya feelin'? Ya got anything to say, kid?" Her brown eyes peer softly down into the younger woman's; she hopes to hear her finally speak again.

"Uh—can ya tell me who the two a ya are first?" Lorna stares between the two women with muddle displaying in her dark eyes. There's a slight headache lurking in the corner of her forehead, which only adds to the mixed emotions she's experiencing.

Red and Nicky share a worried look before attempting to answer the younger woman's question. "You don't remember, honey?" The Russian mother gently questions, standing on the other side of Lorna. Her blue orbs peer down at her with a deep concern. Carefully, she grabs one of her hands and squeezes it tenderly in her own.

"Remember—remember what? I never seen the you two in my entire life…What's going on? Am I – am I in the hospital? The-the – my house…it-it was on fire! Are you the ones who brought me here? Do you know how bad the fire was?" Lorna's eyes stare up at them with apprehension as she spews out her questions.

"Lorna, sweetheart…that fire happened months ago," Red awkwardly answers, staring over at her daughter with a deeply worried expression—not having the first clue what to do for the poor young woman.

Nicky slightly shrugs her shoulders, peering back at her mother with the same expression. She averts her eyes down to the petite brunette, bending down to soothingly run a hand through her hair. "You _are_ in the hospital, kid. But this isn't from the fire—you were at work and ya kinda fell and hit your head. Doctor said ya got a concussion so that's probably why you don't remember it," her fingers trace lightly along her cheek-bones.

A surprised mien displays on the petite woman's face as she uneasily peers up at Nicky. "What are ya talkin' bout? I-I don't got no job—I gotta stay home to take care a my mom and help with Franny's kids…Ya ain't makin' no sense. Please just tell me how bad the fire was! I needa know if my family is okay!"

"You remember your family?" Nicky cautiously inquiries, squeezing her hand comfortingly in her own. Her eyes pour compassionately down into the brunette's. "The fire—it was horrifically bad, kid. You're lucky to have made it outta there alive…your house – there's nothing left of it. It was burned into a pile of charred debris."

"What about my family?! Are they okay or not? And yes, I remember them—why the fuck wouldn't I?" Lorna arches her eyebrows with confusion and a tad bit of irritation at not knowing what's going on.

Nicky inwardly gulps, squeezing the younger woman's hand tighter as she gives a stare over to her adopted mother. She hopes the older woman will think of a way to gently inform Lorna on the tragic perish of her family. Her heart aches for her friend having to find out that her entire family is deceased all over again, especially since he knows who they are now.

Red takes the hint and lets out a small sigh. She peers delicately down at the brunette, her blue eyes filled with deep sorrow and empathy for the young girl. "They didn't make it, honey…the fire department searched the entire house—or what was left of it—and found four bodies, all burnt and unidentifiable. I'm so, so sorry to tell you this!" Her hand grips tighter on Lorna's in an attempt to comfort her somehow.

"No-no," the young woman cries out while shaking her head violently hard. She attempts to sit up but the minute she does, the pain in her head worsens. "There's no – no fuckin' way they-they all died in the fire! I can't—I need my family…this is all just a dream, ain't it? My house didn't burn down or nothin' this gotta be a dream."

Feeling tears form in her eyes—out of pain for her friend—Nicky instantly sits down beside her and scoops her into a tight embrace. She runs her hands soothingly up and down her back, lightly rocking as she holds her. "This isn't a dream, baby—there _was_ a really bad fire and, sadly, your family wasn't as lucky as you were. I'm so sorry, kid; we both are…ya don't deserve to deal with this!" She gives a tender kiss to the top of Lorna's head, keeping a firm hold on her through her angry cries.

Lorna only shakes her head with tears pouring heavily down her porcelain cheeks. She feels completely numb and alone. How can she have survived while everyone else in her family died? How is that fair? "I-I – can I see the house? I need to see it; there's no way anything you're saying is fucking true! You don't even know me; how do I know you're not just making this shit up?!"

"Stop, Lorna, just stop…ya need to calm down," Nicky says, tightening her hold on the small brunette. She brushes her hand delicately through her hair in effort to soothe the distressed woman. "Ya can't go anywhere right now anyway, kid. Ya needa rest." Her hands cup around Lorna's head and place it gently onto her chest; she continues to stroke her hair, slowly lulling her into a light slumber.

* * *

Standing in front of where her house used to sit, Lorna feels her heart shatter. She cautiously walks towards the pile of charred and decomposing debris. Tears threaten to spill from her brown eyes as she kneels on the grass, picking up the broken pieces of wood that surround her. She feels a hand on her shoulder and looks up to see Nicky sitting beside her. She stares at her but says nothing – they barely know each other.

Nicky sighs, looking sadly down at her friend – who has absolutely no recollection of her or Red. It hurts to know that Lorna will always have trouble remembering them, but she wonders if this concussion may have possibly cured the amnesia somehow—how else could she gain memories of her family? "I'm sorry, kid," she softly says, giving a comforting squeeze to her shoulder.

Shaking her head, Lorna looks away and picks a few pieces of burnt wood – rolling them around on her hand. "H-how do you and that Russian lady even know me? I ain't never seen the two a ya before in my life," she throws the wood as far as she can and then turns back to face the taller woman.

"Lorna, ya live with Red and I. You have really bad amnesia from this fire—that happened over three months ago now. I think the concussion you got from falling is what's making you not know that." Nicky honestly answers, not wanting to sugarcoat anything (something she would never find herself to do).

"No, no—stop lying! The fire just happened this morning! I fucking woke up in scorching hot flames and-and I – just none of what you're saying makes sense! Why would I fall and forget everything? You don't make sense," the brunette shakes her head disbelievingly.

Red—who's been standing a bit behind to give them space—watches in dismay. She carefully approaches them, giving a stern yet compassionate stare towards Lorna. "Honey, if the fire happened today, you'd be covered in fresh burns and such—you realize that, don't you? What Nicky's saying is true. You were working and fell and hit your head; that's how you got a concussion and why your memory isn't working right."

A few silent moments pass as Lorna sits on the grass, mentally trying to make sense of what the Russian woman has said to her. She exhales a deep breath before turning to face the both of them, "Bu-but if that's true—are ya sayin' I-I've got somewhere to go with-without my family? I—I ain't got no one besides my parents and siblings…Where the fuck can I possibly be living? This just – none of it makes sense to me! I don't have a job, so there's no way any of you are being honest."

"I think we better just get you home, Lorna. We'll talk about this later after you've had some rest," Red firmly responds before both she and Nicky help the brunette to their car.

* * *

After making sure Lorna's finally asleep, Nicky quietly walks back down the stairs to sit with her mother in the kitchen. She gives a frustrated stare over to the older woman and grabs the steaming cup that's been placed in front of her. "What the hell are we supposed to do for her, ma?!" Her big eyes bore up towards the Russian's lighter ones.

"We need to just do what the doctor said and give her time to rest. Pushing her to remember anything is only going to make her worse, Nicky. How many times do I need to tell you this? Just give her some space and hopefully—once the concussion is gone—she might remember some things that are more recent. Have her look through the journal, too," Red calmly answers.

She reaches for her coffee, brings it to her lips, and sips it slowly. Staring into her daughter's eyes, she can sense the hidden sorrow in them – this brings a realization to her that Nicky might be starting to develop some sort of feelings for Lorna, deep feelings; the same deep feelings Red had for a man before she chose to marry her husband.

"How is she ever gonna be able to live a normal fuckin' life with this terrible memory of hers? I mean she remembers her family now but I bet once this concussion goes away, she'll be back to not remembering again! Isn't there a damn cure for amnesia already?"

Grabbing her hand gently in her own, Red lets out a quiet sigh. "All we can do is wait and see, Nicky. There's no way to know if she'll ever be cured of the amnesia—it's not like there's some magic pill we can give her that will bring her memory back."

* * *

Later in the evening, Nicky goes to sit outside on the porch. She sees Lorna sitting half-slumped over in the swing, which has her immediately walk over and sit beside her. "You okay, Lorna?" Her voice gently asks as she wraps an arm comfortingly around her.

"Peachy," the shorter woman shakes her head. Lorna sighs and stares up at the redhead with a slight wariness hidden within her eyes, "I can't understand how my family is just gone and I'm not! It fuckin' makes no sense! What-what am I supposed to do now? I-I have no one else and my house is burned to the ground!"

Lightly rubbing her arm, the redhead stares softly down into her eyes. Seeing her friend suffer through such a traumatic event—even if it's already happened—breaks her heart; and with her memory issues, having to remember it all over again (constantly) makes Nicky feel even worse for her – she can't imagine how hard and painful that must be for her. "I know it's confusing and painful, kid," she softly starts, tenderly running her thumb across her forehead.

"But ya really have been able to go on with your life; ya live here with Red and I now, and ya got a good job at a local diner – the place where you hit your head, which is why your memory isn't quite right now. I know you don't believe me, but I promise you this is all true. You have a journal with stuff ya've written in to help improve your memory each morning – I can get it for ya if ya want."

Slightly shrugging, Lorna looks away from her and stares out into the flowers that sit in pots on either side of the front door. "Fine, get it—but I doubt that'll do anything," she defiantly replies, folding her arms over her chest while continuing to look away from the other. She feels the swing lighten a bit, noticing that Nicky's gotten up and is heading inside.

Alone now, the petite woman leans her head against the medal arm-rest of the swing and closes her eyes. She lets out a frustrated breath, slamming her hand down to the empty spot next to her. "Why the fuck couldn't the fire take me too?!" Lorna angrily cries out with tears beginning to pour from her eyes.

Nicky's eyes fill with compassion when she comes back out—a few minutes later—with the journal in hand. She quickly sits back in her spot beside Lorna and wraps an arm protectively around her waist. Dropping a warm kiss to her head, she stares warmly down at her, "Have a look through this, kid; maybe it'll help ya. Ya've written in it every day since a few days after the fire." She suggests, handing the book into the shorter woman's shaky hands.

Opening the journal, Lorna scrunches her eyes as she takes a look through it. "I don't understand!" Her tone obviously upset; she glances between the notebook and Nicky, arching her eyebrows in dissatisfaction. "W-why the fuck do I have amnesia from a stupid house fire?! That don't make any sense! And what does this 'job' have to do with memory problems? You confuse me so much—my fucking head is pounding because of what you say and that older woman too." She yells, throwing the journal aside and kicking her feet roughly against the concrete underneath them.

Shaking her head in her own frustration, Nicky pulls the smaller woman tightly into her arms. Her fingers brush delicately along the skin of her cheeks as her big eyes bore empathetically into hers. "I'm sorry, baby; I'm sorry ya gotta deal with this. I wish I could help ya more and make the confusion go away… But no matter how many ways I explain it, I don't think you'll ever be able to understand. Hopefully when this shitty concussion goes away, you'll go back to feeling somewhat normal again. I hate seeing ya like this, kid," she tiredly says, kissing her lightly on the head while continuing to hold her close. She brushes her hands gently through Lorna's dark hair, over and over, until she falls asleep.

* * *

The next morning has Nicky sitting in the kitchen with a cup of coffee. It's just she and Lorna today since Red's given her the day off from cleaning for her to look after the brunette. She hopes today goes better than yesterday and that maybe—just maybe—the concussion will be gone and Lorna will finally be back to the somewhat cheerful woman she was just days before. It shatters her heart to see the petite woman so angry, especially when that doesn't seem to fit her personality.

When Lorna walks into the kitchen, a half hour later, Nicky gives a gentle smile as she peers softly into her eyes. "Mornin', kid. How ya feelin' today? Yesterday was a rough day for ya, yeah?" She questions while getting up to make a cup of coffee for her. Once it's all mixed in the mug, she carefully carries it over to the brunette and hands it to her.

"Thanks, Nicky," Lorna brightly smiles before she happily takes a sip of the coffee. "I feel fine—what happened yesterday? What're ya talkin' about? Did I have a really long work day or something?"

Hearing her say that makes both relief and a small amount of frustration wash over Nicky. It's hard to watch this young woman—whom she's become especially fond over—constantly forgetting the previous day's events. Yet, she knows it's not her fault; she can't help that she has terrible, incurable amnesia. "Ya kinda had a little accident at work yesterday—ya fell and hit your head and got a minor concussion from it. But you had some very odd side effects from the concussion, ya actually remembered your family! Of course, ya forgot everything else – like the day, Red and I, and anything else that had no connection with the fire. Do ya remember your family still?"

Giving a strange look to the redhead, Lorna slowly shakes her head. "I don't think I remember them…I mean except for Franny—my sister, I think? I don't know who my parents are or if I have any other siblings…I wish I could! Wait, if this Franny's my sister why haven't I seen her? Did the fire make her lose her memory too? Where is she, Nicky?" Her brown eyes peer innocently up into the older woman's.

"Kid, we've been through this—she didn't make it; no one else in the house survived, sweetie…You're the only one who lived. I'm so sorry, Lorna; I hate that you have to keep reliving the news," Nicky softly says, reaching over to soothingly brush some of her hair behind her ears.

Lorna slowly nods her head as she takes another sip of her coffee. "So I guess even if I do remember my family, it won't matter…I ain't ever gonna see em' again. I wonder why I'm alive and they aren't, how is that possible? Are ya sure they died? What if they have amnesia too and don't remember me?"

Staring compassionately into Lorna's brown orbs, Nicky gives a slight shrug to her shoulder. She wishes she had the answers to her friend's many heartrending questions—questions that she shouldn't even have to ask. "Baby, they found all four bodies of your family members in the house—burned and covered in soot. They are definitely dead; I wish that weren't the case but it is. I'm so sorry, kid! The fire was so horrific; _you_ were very lucky to have gotten outta there alive and I am so glad ya did. There was probably too much smoke and debris for the rest of them to be able to get out—it's not fair, I know, but not everyone is as lucky as you." She answers, taking hold of Lorna's two hands and stroking her thumb tenderly over her knuckles.

"I wish I could remember everything and be like a normal person again. When the fuck will I get my memory back? I hate waking up every morning with no recollection of the day before—it's just not fair, Nicky! And it's even harder at work because half the time, I don't even remember what the hell I'm supposed to be doing. I love working there, it just sucks not being able to be as fast as everyone else!"

"I know, I know ya do…I want ya to be able to remember too, kid. But there's no way for any of us to know if and when you'll get it back—the best thing for us to do is to keep having ya write in that journal. Maybe we can see if ma can get ya to see that neurologist again; maybe he can take a scan of your brain to see if there's something that can be done to help gain some of your memories back," Nicky gently suggests, squeezing Lorna's hand lovingly in her own. She stares warmly into her eyes with a sad smile, "Don't worry, kid; we'll do whatever we can to help ya and make ya feel somewhat normal. No matter what it is. Ya may not have your blood family, but you have ma and I—you'll have us for the rest of your life, baby, and we will not let you suffer with this amnesia much longer or—at least—try not to let you."


End file.
